What to know about Olympic boxer Imane Khelif’s cyberbullying complaint

This comes after a flurry of online attacks spreading false claims about her gender. Former president Donald Trump, author J.K. Rowling and billionaire Elon Musk were among those who referred to Khelif as a man or reposted such claims.

Imane Khelif and the gender controversy

Khelif is an Algerian boxer who won gold in the women’s 66-kilogram (146-pound) division at the Paris Olympics. During the Games, Khelif faced false claims online that she was a man or transgender.

The International Olympic Committee stood by Khelif as a Russian boxing chief, Umar Kremlev, repeatedly alleged without proof that a test revealed the Algerian boxer had XY chromosomes.

Khelif “was born female, was registered female, lived her life as a female, boxed as a female, has a female passport,” IOC spokesman Mark Adams said in a news conference Aug. 2. “This is not a transgender case.”

Kremlev heads the International Boxing Association. The IOC cut ties with the IBA last year over Kremlev’s connections to Russian President Vladimir Putin and other scandals. The IOC accused the IBA of running a Russian-backed “disinformation campaign against the Olympic movement.”

Still, online vitriol grew as she advanced through the competition.

Rowling, Musk and Trump were among those who shared posts suggesting Khelif was not a woman after Italian boxer Angela Carini abruptly quit her round-of-16 fight against Khelif after being punched in the face.

In the news conference, Adams said he’d seen a lot of “damaging” misinformation on social media around the boxing case, and encouraged people to put themselves in the shoes of the athletes involved.

The complaint

A complaint for aggravated cyber harassment was filed with the Paris prosecutor’s office, Khelif’s attorney, Nabil Boudi, said in a statement Aug. 10 on X, adding that the boxer was subjected to a “misogynistic, racist and sexist campaign.”

“The unjust harassment suffered by the boxing champion will remain the biggest stain of these Olympic Games,” Boudi said.

Government investigators will look into the allegations and decide whether to submit cyberbullying charges. Under French law, such convictions can result in prison terms or fines.

Who was named in the complaint?

The complaint did not name the perpetrators, which is common under French law, according to the Associated Press, and gives prosecutors room to investigate anyone who could be culpable.

What has happened in other cases?

France has been working to combat cyberbullying and to reduce the dominance of U.S. tech companies. Other French cases of aggravated online harassment have resulted in prosecutions.

Almost 30 people were sentenced this year after a judge found them guilty of the online harassment of a French influencer, French network BFM TV reported, in one of the country’s largest cyberbullying cases to date. Lawyers representing the woman said in a news release that the severity of the sentences — up to 18 months in prison — was “unprecedented in a case of cyberbullying,” according to BFM TV.

Anti-bullying laws made harassment an offense in schools and universities in 2022, punishable with sentences of up to 10 years, and strengthened the obligations of tech companies to moderate school bullying on social media.

What Khelif said

Responding to the gender controversy, Khelif said: “I am a woman. I was born a woman and was raised a woman, and I compete as a woman.”

After beating China’s Liu Yang to claim the gold medal in the welterweight division, Khelif said, “My honor is intact now.”

“My message to the world — the whole world — is: Hold on to Olympic values and not bully people,” she said.

Les Carpenter contributed to this report.