Imane Kehlif is most-Googled athlete of 2024 amid Olympic boxing gender controversy

The world watched Imane Khelif win Olympic gold in ladies’s boxing on the Paris Olympics. It then went to Google trying to find solutions to many, many complicated questions. 

Google launched its “Yr in Search” knowledge this week and revealed that the most-searched athlete on the platform in 2024 was Khelif. Khelif was searched greater than movie star famous person athletes Simone Biles, Jake Paul and Mike Tyson.  

The Algerian boxer incited mass controversy by competing as a girl within the Paris Olympics regardless of allegedly being born with the XY chromosomes, that are related to males. 

Khelif’s inclusion and run all the best way to a gold medal was one of many largest controversies of a controversy-filled Summer time Olympics this 12 months. Google’s newest search knowledge suggests it might have been the largest sports activities controversy on this planet this previous 12 months. 

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The second that first captured the eye of thousands and thousands was when Khelif was seen punching Italian boxer Angela Carini within the face with irregular energy and power seen within the ladies’s sport. Carini withdrew from the match in simply 46 seconds, in tears, and cried about how painful the expertise was afterward. 

“I received into the ring to struggle,” Carini mentioned in Paris, by way of Italy’s ANSA. “I did not surrender, however one punch harm an excessive amount of. And, so, I mentioned ‘sufficient.'”

Those that went to search out out extra about Khelif after that second on Google after that will have discovered of previous situations through which the boxer was beforehand disqualified from worldwide competitors. 

Khelif was disqualified from the 2023 championships earlier than a gold medal bout over gender eligibility points. The Worldwide Boxing Affiliation (IBA) President Umar Kremlev launched a press release to Russia’s TASS Company about why Khelif was disqualified.

“Based mostly on DNA exams, we recognized numerous athletes who tried to trick their colleagues into posing as ladies. In accordance with the outcomes of the exams, it was proved that they’ve XY chromosomes. Such athletes had been excluded from competitors,” Kremlev mentioned.

RILEY GAINES CALLS FEMALE BOXER A ‘HERO’ FOR FORFEITING MATCH AGAINST FIGHTER WITH XY CHROMOSOMES, SLAMS IOC

The Algerian Olympic Committee mentioned on the time that Khelif was disqualified for “medical causes.” Algerian media reported that Khelif was disqualified for top testosterone ranges, in accordance with Reuters. Khelif claimed the disqualification was a part of a “conspiracy” to forestall Algeria from successful gold. 

“There are some nations that didn’t need Algeria to win a gold medal,” Khelif advised Algerian Ennahar TV. “It is a conspiracy and a giant conspiracy, and we is not going to be silent about it.”

The Worldwide Olympic Committee (IOC) and President Thomas Bach vigorously defended Khelif’s inclusion, insisting the boxer complied with all essential {qualifications} to compete within the Olympics as a girl. In an Aug. 1 assertion, the IOC claimed that Khelif “complies with the competitors’s eligibility and entry rules, in addition to all relevant medical rules set by the Paris 2024 Boxing Unit (PBU).” 

The IBA launched a press release earlier than Khelif’s match and defined why the fighter was disqualified, claiming Khelif underwent two exams, in 2022 and in 2023, failing each of them. 

“Our Committees have rigorously reviewed and endorsed the choice made in the course of the World Championships,” the IBA mentioned. “Whereas IBA stays dedicated to making sure aggressive equity in all of our occasions, we specific concern over the inconsistent software of eligibility standards by different sporting organizations, together with these overseeing the Olympic Video games. The IOC’s differing rules on these issues, through which IBA shouldn’t be concerned, increase critical questions on each aggressive equity and athletes’ security.”

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The controversy turned so topical everywhere in the world that even President-elect Donald Trump weighed in on it throughout a rally in August, referencing Khelif’s bout vs. Carini. 

“Now all it’s a must to do is have a look at the boxers,” Trump mentioned. “This younger woman from Italy, a champion boxer, she received hit so exhausting she did not know what the hell hit her. It is an individual that transitioned,” Trump mentioned of Khelif. “He was a great male boxer. And (Carini) did not even go down. He hit her with two jabs and he or she mentioned, ‘I am out.'”

After Trump used footage of Khelif’s Olympic boxing matches in marketing campaign adverts the place he vowed to finish trans inclusion in ladies’s sports activities, Khelif spoke out in opposition to Trump. 

“I’ve seen that there are numerous politicians and presidents who communicate with no supply, and it’s one thing unusual, as a result of they make statements with no foundation, with out actuality,” Khelif mentioned, by way of The Telegraph.

Khelif has filed a lawsuit in opposition to a number of individuals, together with Elon Musk and J.Okay. Rowling, who criticized the athlete and the IOC for the inclusion, alleging sex-based “acts of aggravated cyber harassment.” 

Khelif threatened one other lawsuit in November in opposition to a French journalist over a report that alleged the boxer had testicles.

“We’ll meet with the French journalist in court docket,” the Algerian athlete mentioned by way of NDTV.

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