Imane Khelif has hit out Elon Musk for helping to facilitate a ‘cruel’ campaign of abuse against her during this summer’s Olympic Games in Paris.
Khelif became Algeria’s first Olympic gold medallist in women’s boxing and their first boxer to win gold since 1996 but faced constant scrutiny over her participation after she was disqualified from the Women’s World Championships last year for failing the International Boxing Association’s (IBA) gender eligibility rules.
The 25-year-old has always competed in the women’s boxing division and has identified as female since birth and was allowed to compete in Paris by The International Olympic Committee.
Despite that clearance, Khelif was still on the receiving end of relentless online hate throughout the Games, particularly after her 46-second stoppage win against Italy’s Angela Carini which brought criticism from the likes of Musk, J.K. Rowling and Donald Trump.
Musk shared a post from American swimmer Riley Gaines which read: ‘Men don’t belong in women’s sports’. Musk added to the message by writing: ‘Absolutely.’
And Khelif has now spoken out against Musk, owner of the social media site, X, brandishing his actions as ‘cruel’ in a teary interview on French TV show CLIQUE.
‘Elon Musk was one of the first to attack me during this hate campaign,’ she said. ‘He posted this video and it was retweeted,’ she said. ‘So, he was one of the first to have spread this buzz, this campaign against me.
‘I would say… you hate me but you don’t even know me. I don’t even know why you led this attack. You have been cruel to me, cruel to my family, to my mother.
‘At that time, my mother was going to hospital every day.’
‘So I don’t understand the behaviour of people today. God is my guide, I am a practising Muslim woman. I am a Muslim Arabic woman and I got through this moment.
‘I hope I will be even stronger in the future and come back even more motivated.’
Since winning gold in Paris, Khelif filed a legal complaint over online harassment she was subjected to on social media.
The lawsuit has been filed against X, the social media platform owned by Musk, which means that under French law it was filed against unknown persons.
The lawsuit accuses X of facilitating ‘acts of aggravated cyber harassment’ and named Rowling and Musk amongst others.
‘What we’re asking is that the prosecution investigates not only these people but whoever it feels necessary. If the case goes to court, they will stand trial,’ Nabil Boudi, Khelif’s attorney, told Variety.
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