Claim: French medical reports show that Algerian boxer Imane Khelif was born as a man with XY chromosomes.
Fact: The Algerian Olympic Association and Imane Khelif have publicly denounced the claim. In addition, no document to support the claim has been brought forward.
In early November 2024, social media was abuzz with posts claiming that French medical reports have confirmed that Olympic boxer Imane Khelif is a man with XY chromosomes, male testosterone levels and testicles.
Around the same time, several news websites – particularly those that have a reputation of producing click-bait content, such as Reduxx, Livemint, Rebel News and OpIndia – published articles citing an alleged French medical report. Sky News also published a report titled “IOC worshipping at altar of trans virtue-signalling will get women killed.”
All of these social media posts and articles reference a sourced the alleged medical report from a French journalist, Djaffar Ait Aoudia.
In a previous fact check, Soch Fact Check has specifically presented evidence establishing Reduxx Magazine as an “anti-trans” outlet. The magazine describes itself as a “truly pro-woman, pro-child safeguarding platform” and one “exposing gender ideology’s impact on women”.
On 27 July 2024, it published a “breaking” news report about the Algerian and Taiwan’s Lin being “previously disqualified from Women’s World Championship for having ‘XY chromosomes’”; the article was posted on X here (archive) and has gained over 4.5 million views. It has since shared the unverified claims on the platform over a dozen times here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here.
Soch Fact Check earlier debunked a similar claim regarding Imane Khelif’s gender in September 2024. The article is available here.
Le Correspondant’s report by Djaffar Air Aoudia
The original article written by Aoudia was published by Le Correspondant on 25 October 2024. The article states that the several people who spoke against Imane Khelif earlier, calling her a man, namely Elon Musk, JK Rowling, Donald Trump, and others were indeed correct in their assumptions.
It further claimed that this medical report was a collaboration between the Kremlin-Bicêtre hospital in Paris, France, and the Mohamed Lamine Debaghine hospital in Algiers, Algeria. According to these articles, it was drafted by endocrinologists Soumaya Fedala and Jacques Young.
In this report, from June 2023, the two doctors allegedly said that Khelif has a genetic anomaly which leads to metabolic dysfunction in testosterone and dehydroandrosterone. The article includes an excerpt from the alleged report which could be translated as:
“Biological, radiological and genetic paraclinical exploration shows that there is a congenital genetic deficiency in 5a reductase type 2, an anomaly of sexual development which leads to a defect in the metabolism of testosterone dihydrotestosterone. This autosomal recessive transmission disorder is characterized”
It further claims that Dr Young put Khelif through “a battery of tests” and the results showed “ an absence of a uterus”, “gonads in the inguinal canals”, “a blind vagina” and a “micro-penis” in the form of “clitoral hypertrophy”. None of these claims are substantiated with any additional evidence apart from the excerpt mentioned above.
In a later paragraph, the article mentions another excerpt from the report, which can be translated from French as:
“Indeed, in these forms diagnosed late, in view of the clinical history, biological hormonal data, radiological data and psychological and neuropsychiatric expertise, the female sex is always favored. This is the case of Imane who fully identifies as a girl; Therapeutically, surgical correction and hormonal therapy will be indicated for her as well as sustained psychological support because a very significant neuropsychological impact has been noted in her. The patient will be followed regularly in consultation.”
However, neither of the excerpts mention Imane Khelif’s name and there is no way to independently confirm whether this report is indeed about Imane Khelif’s biological status and not anyone else’s.
Le Correspondant has also been extensively fact-checked by an Arab fact-checking organisation Misbar for their reporting on Imane Khelif. It is also worth noting that it was founded by Djaffar Ait Aoudia, who wrote the article about Khelif’s gender.
Her report was also labelled “fake news” by Italian sports correspondent Marco Bonarrigo in an article for Corriere Della Sera, and David Puente for Open. The latter titled the piece “Imane Khelif and the unfounded “French scoop” on the medical report”.
Bonarrigo also states that Aoudia is the president, editorial director, and the sole editor of the magazine Le Correspondant, which means the article did not go through any stages of fact-checking or editing by anyone other than the writer and founder of the magazine himself.
Puente’s investigation also further notes several inconsistencies in Aoudia’s reporting, where he changed the doctors’ names on 25 October 2024. This casts doubt on the accuracy of the report itself.
Background
In March 2023, Algerian boxer Imane Khelif and Tainwan’s Lin Yu-Ting were disqualified by the Russian boxing organisation International Boxing Association (IBA) for “their failure to meet the eligibility criteria for participating in the women’s competition”. “The athletes did not undergo a testosterone examination but were subject to a separate and recognized test, whereby the specifics remain confidential”, it said, adding that both boxers “were found to have competitive advantages over other female competitors”.
This disqualification came after Khelif defeated Azalia Amineva, a Russian boxer, in a match in Delhi. The IBA refused to explain which rule was breached, citing athletes’ “personal and medical privacy”, AFP had written at the time, adding that “Algerian media reported the 23-year-old had failed a hormone test, returning an elevated testosterone level”.
The IBA’s credibility has been questioned time and again and it was dropped and stripped of its status by the IOC, which now oversees boxing for the time being via the Paris 2024 Boxing Unit (PBU) but is looking for a new body to do so.
IBA has however been stripped of its status by the International Olympic Committee (IOC). The Russian body is marred by “a history of judging and bribery scandals”. Sources close to Khelif have described it as evidence of “classic IBA disinformation”.
The claims about Khelif’s gender were repopularised after her Olympics 2024 fight with Angela Carini ended within 46 seconds because Carini claimed that she “couldn’t breathe anymore”, and that she was never “hit with such a powerful punch”. Both boxers competed in the boxing weight division called welterweight, where professional athletes are between 63.5 and 66.5 kilograms.
On 2 August 2024, IBA announced a $50,000 reward for Carini . The IBA’s top officials — including Kremlev and George Yerolimpos, its secretary-general and chief executive at the time — have persistently repeated the allegations about Khelif having XY chromosomes but never provided any proof.
Was Imane Khelif assigned male at birth?
In an earlier investigation, Soch Fact Check debunked the claim that Imane Khelif was assigned male at birth or that she identifies as an intersex person.
Khelif identifies as a woman according to her statement to the Time Magazine which corroborates several others. In addition, her father also publicly denounced the claims regarding Khelif’s gender, “My child is a girl. She was raised as a girl… The Italian opponent she faced was unable to defeat my daughter,” Amar Khelif said. Reuters also reported that Khelif’s father shared a document dated 2 May 1999 confirming that Khelif was assigned female at birth. He also showed pictures of Imane Khelif’s childhood clearly showing that she was born a woman.
Amar, father of Algerian boxer Imane Khelif, sits with his children as he shows a picture of Imane when she was young, inside his house, in Tiaret province, Algeria August, 2, 2024. REUTERS/Ramzi Boudina
“This is our family official document, May 2, 1999, Imane Khelif, female. It is written here you can read it, this document doesn’t lie,” Reuters reported him saying.
The document can be seen at the 0:05 mark in the video available here and at 2:25 mark here.
In another interview, Imane Khelif’s uncle Rachid Jabeur has also confirmed that she is a woman. He told BBC Arabia that Khelif had a tough upbringing and has the mental strength to cope with this huge pressure. “Imane was born female and has lived as a female”, he said.
Her uncle Jabeur further stated, “I always told my sons to accompany her to and from training sessions to protect her,” which further proves that ever since her childhood her family has always seen her as a woman.
On 5 August, Khelif spoke to The Associated Press’, about how the controversy impacted her and that she wants to send a message to everyone “to refrain from bullying all athletes, because this has effects, massive effects”. She added that such allegations “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”.
In an interview with the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), Khelif spoke of how she excelled in playing football in her village at the age of 16 and how, after facing fights with boys who “felt threatened” by her, “it was her ability to dodge the boys’ punches that got her into boxing”. She also mentioned that her father “did not approve of boxing for girls”.
It is also important to note that Algeria makes it illegal for anyone to transition across genders, according to multiple organisations including Human Rights Watch, UNDP, Human Dignity Trust, Outright Internationaland Cairo 52 Legal Research Institute.
Since all of these allegations regarding her gender are linked to the fact that it is very difficult for cisgendered women to beat her in a game, it is worth noting that she has been defeated by other cisgender women in the past. According to the Associated Press, before the 2024 Olympics, “Khelif was decidedly not known as a dominant champion, an overpowering force or even a particularly hard puncher at her weight.” Khelif is now a world champion but she initially “lost five of her first six elite-level bouts, but improved and excelled”.
The Olympics profile of Khelif — who has been fighting since 2018 — states that she lost to Irish boxer Kellie Harrington in the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, and to Amy Broadhurst, of Ireland in the 2022 World Championships. Broadhurst, who beat the Algerian boxer in 2022, said she did not think that “she [Khelif] has done anything to ‘cheat’” and that “it’s the way she was born & that’s out of her control”.
Fact or Fiction?
The Guardian published an article on 6 November, titled “Olympic boxer Imane Khelif takes legal action over male chromosomes claims”. It states that according to the International Olympic Committee, Khelif is now pursuing legal action against the French magazine Le Correspondant which published this recent article falsely claiming that she was born with an XY chromosome.
The article further states, “Khelif filed a legal complaint with the French authorities over the online abuse and harassment she was subjected to during the Games and the IOC said she was now also taking action over new reports which emerged in France earlier this week.”
The IOC also issued a statement claiming that all the participants, including Khelif, complied with the competition’s eligibility and entry regulations. It said, “ The IOC is saddened by the abuse that Imane Khelif is currently receiving.”
In addition to this, DW also reached out to Dr Jacques Young, an endocrinologist at Bicetre Hospital in Paris, who allegedly co-authored the medical report cited by the Le Correspondant. According to DW, Dr Young believes his name is being “used to spread false information and an anti-trans agenda”.
A BBC article also states that BBC was not able to verify the authenticity of the reports cited in Le Correspondant. It also quotes the IOC saying “unverified documents whose origin cannot be confirmed.” IOC also further stated that Khelif is now planning a lawsuit in response to the magazine. “The IOC is saddened by the abuse that Imane Khelif is currently receiving,” a spokesperson added.
DW also published an article on 6 November titled “Algeria condemns ‘baseless’ Imane Khelif medical leak”. The Algerian Olympic Committee (COA) criticised the “ongoing and baseless attacks”. DW reported COA saying, “These attacks, often based on unsubstantiated allegations, aim to tarnish the image of an athlete who has brought honor to our nation on the international stage. We firmly condemn these attempts at destabilization, which have no place in the world of sports.”
Virality
On Facebook, we found that the claim was shared here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here.
On Instagram we found the claim shared here, here, here, here, here, and here.
Conclusion: Imane Khelif was not born as a man. Recent French medical reports have been disavowed by the doctor who allegedly wrote it.
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Background image in cover photo: The Washington Post
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