Imane Khelif’s troubled childhood became public after her victory in the Olympic boxing tournament, which was overshadowed by a debate about gender inequality.
The fighter from Algeria had been forced to sell bread as a child to support her boxing dreams.
As a child, Khelif had been forced to sell bread in the streets to support her family’s struggling business. She also noted that she had been collecting various objects to earn money.
She had been living her life as a woman since birth, and her victory at the Olympics caught the attention of the media and sparked a debate about gender inequality in sports.
Her opponent, Angela Carini from Italy, refused to fight after she received a hard punch.
Several prominent individuals accused Khelif of discriminating against women by being a trans man, but it was quickly revealed that she was actually a woman who had previously tested positive for a medical condition that prevented her from being a woman.
This was similar to the controversy that South African athlete Semenya faced during her career.
In an interview, the 25-year-old athlete talked about how she was able to rise to the pinnacle of her sport after being told that boxing was only for men. She noted that a teacher believed that she had the necessary physical attributes to be a skilled boxer. Khelif also said that she had always been a passionate football player, and she would often spend time playing in her village.
As a child, she was taught to be a good football player, but her teacher encouraged her to become a boxer due to her physical abilities. She noted that people in her conservative region of Algeria thought that boxing was only suitable for men, and it was illegal for individuals to transition or be gay.
She noted that she came from a conservative family background and that boxing was only meant for men. Khelif said that training as a boxer had been challenging, and she had to raise funds to pay for her own training.
She noted that these experiences affected her during her early years. These included selling bread in the streets, collecting various objects for her family’s struggling business, and being able to move around due to her poor background. Despite these hardships, she eventually managed to move to the Algerian capital and pursue her professional boxing career.
In the past year, Khelif encountered various difficulties due to a medical condition.
At the last minute, Khelif and Taiwanese boxer Lin Yu-ting were removed from the World Championships in 2017 because they didn’t meet the gender eligibility requirements.
Khelif reflected on her previous ban and how it had affected her. She vowed to come back stronger and show the world that she was a courageous woman. Carini, who lost her Olympic dreams after facing Khelif, said she was afraid for her life.
Although it is not clear why Khelif was not allowed to participate in the World Championships due to her XY chromosomes, it is believed that she has a type of sex development that doesn’t correspond to the sex that she was assigned at birth. This condition, known as DSD, is a type of disorder that causes people to develop different characteristics than what they were expected to.