Algerian boxer Imane Khelif, who is competing in the women’s division of the sport at the Paris Olympics, is a woman who was assigned female at birth—not a transgender athlete, despite Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch and others claiming she is a “biological man.”

Many people, including International Boxing Association President Umar Kremlev and “Harry Potter” author J.K. Rowling, began spreading false claims about Khelif’s gender after she won a match against Italian boxer Angela Carini on Aug. 1. Khelif swiftly overtook Carini in the match, and the Italian boxer quit fighting after 46 seconds, giving Khelif the win.

“Angela Carini should never have been forced to compete against a biological man. This is why defending women’s sports is so important and why I will continue to fight to protect Title IX,” Fitch said in a tweet on Aug. 1. For years, she has opposed transgender rights, including by signing onto the so-called “Women’s Bill of Rights.”

Carini told reporters after the Aug. 1 fight that it was not her place to determine who is eligible to compete in the Olympics.

“If an athlete is this way, and in that sense it’s not right or it is right, it’s not up to me to decide,” Carini told reporters in Paris on Aug. 1.

Khelif competed in the 2021 Tokyo Olympics and has won awards at world boxing tournaments in the women’s divisions.

In 2023, the International Boxing Association disqualified Khelif during the world boxing tournament because the organization claimed “her elevated levels of testosterone failed to meet the eligibility criteria,” Slate reported. Taiwanese boxer Lin Yu-ting also faced a flurry of misconceptions about her gender after she failed a gender eligibility test at the tournament. But the IBA has not provided details on how it came to those conclusions or its methodologies. The International Olympic Committee banned the IBA from the Olympics last year following years of controversy, including over a lack of transparency and its ties to a Russian state energy firm.

The Olympics has different medical standards for competitors than the IBA’ s and the IOC approved Khelif and Yu-ting to compete in the women’s division.

“All athletes participating in the boxing tournament of the Olympic Games Paris 2024 comply with the competition’s eligibility and entry regulations, as well as all applicable medical regulations,” the committee said in a statement.

Khelif spoke out against the lies about her gender in an Aug. 6 interview.

“I send a message to all the people of the world to uphold the Olympic principles and the Olympic Charter, to refrain from bullying all athletes, because this has effects, massive effects,” Khelif said in an interview with SNTV, the Associated Press reported. “It can destroy people, it can kill people’s thoughts, spirit and mind. It can divide people. And because of that, I ask them to refrain from bullying.”

On Aug. 2, Carini apologized for her reaction to the fight that sparked the flurry of lies about Khelif’s gender.

“I’m sorry for my opponent, too. If the IOC said she can fight, I respect that decision,” she said.

The Mississippi Free Press reached out to Attorney General Lynn Fitch’s office to ask for comment for this story on Aug. 6 but did not receive a response.

State Reporter Heather Harrison has won more than a dozen awards for her multi-media journalism work. At Mississippi State University, she studied public relations and broadcast journalism, earning her Communication degree in 2023. For three years, Heather worked at The Reflector student newspaper: first as a staff reporter, then as the news editor and finally, as the editor-in-chief. This is where her passion for politics and government reporting began.
Heather started working at the Mississippi Free Press three days after graduation in 2023. She also worked part time for Starkville Daily News after college covering the Board of Aldermen meetings.
In her free time, Heather likes to sit on the porch, read books and listen to Taylor Swift. A native of Hazlehurst, she now lives in Brandon with her wife and their Boston Terrier, Finley, and calico cat, Ravioli.