Algerian boxer and Olympic gold medalist Imane Khelif has filed a formal legal complaint after weeks of being harassed online about her gender.
Khelif won gold in the women’s welterweight category on Friday after an undefeated run throughout the tournament, but her victory has been overshadowed by online abuse.
“All that is being said about me on social media is immoral. I want to change the minds of people around the world,” Khelif said on Saturday.
Her comments come after her lawyer Nabil Boudi told Reuters that an official complaint over “aggravated online harassment” was filed on Friday.
“The boxer Imane Khelif has decided to begin a new fight, a fight for justice, dignity and honour,” Nabil Boudi said in a statement.
He added: “The investigation will determine who was behind this misogynist, racist and sexist campaign, but will also have to concern itself with those who fed the online lynching.”
Following her victory, Khelif stressed that her haters are the “enemies of success”.
“As for whether I qualify or not, whether I am a woman or not, I have made many statements in the media,” Khelif said after her victory. “I am fully qualified to take part in this competition. I’m a woman like any other woman. I was born a woman, I lived a woman, I competed as a woman, there’s no doubt about that. [The detractors] are enemies of success, that is what I call them. And that also gives my success a special taste because of these attacks.”
She also went on to slam the International Boxing Association (IBA) for fuelling the fire despite having known her and her story for a long time.
“My honour is intact now,” Khelif said. “But the attacks that I heard in social media were extremely bad and they are meaningless and they impact the dignity of people and I think that now people’s thinking has changed.
“As for the IBA, since 2018 I have been boxing under their umbrella. They know me very well, they know what I’m capable of, they know how I’ve developed over the years but now they are not recognised any more. They hate me and I don’t know why. I send them a single message: with this gold medal, my dignity, my honour is above everything else.”
The complaint is now with Paris prosecutors.
You can catch the rest of the Olympics on Channel 9 and 9Now.
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