Boxer Imane Khelif has shown off a new look after her performance at the Paris 2024 Olympics became met with an online row over her gender.
In a joint video shared on Instagram by Beauty Code and Khelif, the Olympian could be seen standing front and center, wearing a blue shirt and her red boxing gloves. The video then switched to a shot of Khelif in a different look, as she wore a white button-down floral shirt and hoop earrings, which had pink flowers attached to them.
She also wore pink eyeshadow and matching lipstick, as well as a silver necklace. Khelif completed her look with her gold medal, which she won in the women’s welterweight tournament in Paris on August 9. The video ended with the Algerian athlete smiling at the camera with her flowing curled hair.
In the caption, which has been translated from Arabic to English, Beauty Code noted that while Khelif was “changing her appearance” in the video, the boxer was not defined by her looks. She also “did not seek to change her form to fit the molds that the world wants to confine us to.”
“Her message is much deeper: clothes do not make a monk, and appearance does not reveal the essence of a person,” the caption read. “She can be feminine and elegant when she wants, but on the ring, she does not need makeup or high heels. She only needs strategy, strength, and to throw blows, which is where the essence of her personality lies.”
On X, formerly Twitter, many people praised Khelif’s new look while also expressing that the boxer shouldn’t have to make her appearance seem more feminine.
“Very stunning woman. the internet owes her an apology,” one person wrote, while another added: “She looks absolutely gorgeous and the haters are still crying.”
“The fact that she was forced into a hyper-feminine aesthetic to please the gaze of strangers is kinda lame. But, the makeover eats — nibbles a bit, I should say,” a third person posted.
Another argued: “She did not need to do this. I saw her Instagram and there’s nowhere where this is her persona. They should have just left her alone in peace.”
During the Olympics, Khelif first outboxed Yang Liu to win gold in the women’s welterweight tournament, becoming Algeria’s first woman to ever win a gold medal in boxing at the games. However, days earlier, outrage exploded following Angela Carini’s withdrawal after 46 seconds in her round-of-16 bout against the Algerian. During the match, Carini could also be heard telling her coach, “It’s not right, it’s not right!” – which prompted an online row about Khelif, who allegedly failed a gender eligibility test in 2023.
Last year, Khelif was disqualified hours before her gold-medal bout at the women’s World Championships in New Delhi, after she failed to meet the International Boxing Association’s (IBA) eligibility criteria. Taiwan’s double world champion Lin Yu-ting also lost her bronze medal at the same competition after she too failed to meet the criteria.
The IBA did not specify why the boxers failed their gender eligibility tests but did clarify that neither underwent testosterone examinations. Neither Khelif nor Lin, 28, identifies as transgender or intersex. However, the International Olympic Committee said in July that they were both cleared to compete in the 2024 Olympics.
Following her gold medal win at the Olympics, Khelif addressed how she’d be scrutinized on social media with comments about her gender. “I’m a woman, I was born a woman, I lived a woman. There’s no doubt about that,” she declared at the event. “All that is being said about me on social media is immoral. I want to change the minds of people around the world.”
Khelif also said that by winning gold, she was sending the IBA a message about “dignity and honor.”
“As for if I qualify or not, if I’m a woman or not: I made many statements in the media, I’m fully qualified, I’m a woman, I was born a woman, I lived a woman. There’s no doubt about that,” she added. “These people [who claim I am not], they are the enemies of success. It’s what I call them. It gives my success a special taste because of these attacks.”
Khelif later filed a legal complaint, citing herself as the victim of online harassment. In the lawsuit, her lawyer Nabil Boudi alleged that she was the target of “aggravated cyber-harassment.” In a statement, he described the online backlash as a “misogynist, racist and sexist campaign” against the boxer.
On August 13, Boudi told Variety: “JK Rowling and Elon Musk are named in the lawsuit, among others.” He added that Donald Trump would be part of the investigation. “Trump tweeted, so whether or not he is named in our lawsuit, he will inevitably be looked into as part of the prosecution.”