WASHINGTON (AP) — Former President Donald Trump on Saturday again decried two gold medalist Olympic athletes, falsely labeling the female boxers as men.
Trump made the comments while speaking at a campaign rally in Pennsylvania and pledging to “keep men out of women’s sports,” turned his attention to the recently concluded Olympic Games and the case of two athletes who became the subject of international scrutiny regarding misconceptions about their gender.
Trump has long criticized transgender people as part of his rallies and focused specifically on transgender athletes, using language about gender identity that LGBTQ+ advocates say is wrong and harmful.
In the case of the two boxers, both Imane Khelif of Algeria and Li Yu-ting of Taiwan have faced misconceptions about their gender created by the fallout from the Olympic-banished International Boxing Association’s decision last year to disqualify both fighters from the world championships for allegedly failing an eligibility test.
Trump did not mention the athletes by name but remarked that “in the Olympics, they had two transitioned.”
Despite being born and raised as women, Khelif and Lin found themselves in the crosshairs of Western debates about gender, sex and sports after failing the unspecified and untransparent eligibility tests for women’s competition from the now-banned International Boxing Association.
Trump and other prominent figures have complained about Khelif being allowed to compete and Trump has previously referred to Khelif as a man.
On Saturday, he did so again and in describing both athletes competing in the games as “crazy” and said, “It’s so demeaning to women.”
Imane Khelif stuns internet with her ‘absolutely gorgeous’ looks after Olympic gender row: Here's the boxer's message
Imane Khelif, the Algerian boxer, debuted a new appearance after receiving backlash online after stoking gender row in the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris.
Imane Khelif, the Algerian boxer, debuted a new appearance after receiving backlash online after stoking gender row in the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris.
While the boxer was criticised for playing in the women's category, she shut her critics by winning the gold medal in the Games. She even filed a lawsuit against X owner Elon Musk, author JK Rowling and ex-US President Donald Trump. alleging that several key figures were involved in online harassment over her gender. Khelif claimed that she was the victim of online harassment based on her gender, and French prosecutors have launched a probe into her accusation of cyberbullying.
In her most recent appearance following her Olympic win, she was seen in the center of a collaborative Instagram video posted by Beauty Code and Khelif. The Algerian boxer was dressed in a blue shirt and red boxing gloves, with video switching to a shot of the Algerian boxer in an entirely different look. She was wearing pink flowers linked to her hoops earrings and a white button-down flowery top.
Khelif was “changing her appearance” in the video, but Beauty Code mentioned in the caption, which was translated from Arabic to English, that the boxer was not defined by her appearance. They further noted that the boxer also “did not seek to change her form to fit the molds that the world wants to confine us to.”
“Her message is much deeper: clothes do not make a monk, and appearance does not reveal the essence of a person,” the caption stated. “She can be feminine and elegant when she wants, but on the ring, she does not need makeup or high heels. She only needs strategy, strength, and to throw blows, which is where the essence of her personality lies.”
Social media reacts to Imane Khelif's new look
Meanwhile, several social media users complimented Khelif on her new appearance, However, few pointed that fighter shouldn't have to change her appearance to look more feminine.
“Very stunning woman, the internet owes her an apology,” one person commented, while another wrote: “She looks absolutely gorgeous and the haters are still crying.”
Khelif became the first female athlete from Algeria to win a gold medal in boxing at the Olympics when she defeated Yang Liu in the women's welterweight competition. Days before, anger had erupted over Italy's Angela Carini's decision to withdraw from her round-of-16 match against the Algerian after just 46 seconds. Carini was reportedly heard saying to her coach, “It's not right, it's not right!” during the contest. This sparked an internet controversy around Khelif, who failed a gender eligibility test in 2023.
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