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ARTICLE AD BOX
3 min readUpdated: Feb 6, 2026 09:46 PM IST
Gold medalist Algeria's Imane Khelif poses during a medals ceremony for the women's 66 kg final boxing match at the 2024 Summer Olympics. (AP)
2024 Paris Olympics gold medallist Imane Khelif revealed that she had undergone hormone treatments to lower her testosterone levels ahead of the 2024 Paris Olympics.
However, she reaffirmed that she is not a ‘transgender’.
In an interview with French sports daily L’Equipe, Khelif said, “I have female hormones. And people don’t know this, but I have taken hormone treatments to lower my testosterone levels for competitions,” she said. Khelif also confirmed she has the SRY gene, located on the Y chromosome that indicates masculinity. “Yes, and it’s natural,” she said, adding that she is “surrounded by doctors, a professor is monitoring me… For the Paris Games qualifying tournament, which took place in Dakar, I lowered my testosterone levels to zero”.
Khelif was involved in the gender controversy along with Chinese Taipei boxer Lin Yu-ting, where it was claimed that both boxers were not eligible to feature in the women’s category.
The boxer is aiming to compete in the 2028 Olympics and she knows that she will have to agree to the mandatory gender testing imposed by World Boxing, the new body recognized by the International Olympic Committee to run the sport of boxing.
The boxer, who aims to compete in the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles, knows that she will have to agree to mandatory , a body recognized by the International Olympic Committee, and says she is ready.
“For the next Games, if I have to take a test, I will. I have no problem with that,” she said. “I’ve already taken this test. I contacted World Boxing, I sent them my medical records, my hormone tests, everything. But I haven’t had any response. I’m not hiding, I’m not refusing the tests.”
Khelif said it was for doctors and professors to “decide”, but stated: “We all have different genetics, different hormone levels. I’m not transgender. My difference is natural. This is who I am. I haven’t done anything to change the way nature made me. That’s why I’m not afraid.”
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Khelif hasn’t fought since the Paris Olympics as World Boxing prevent her from participating in the last year after she didn’t take the newly introduced chromosome test.
She said for her, it was “the logical next step”, but added that did not mean she was giving up on competing in two year’s time in LA. “Not at all. I want to… become the first person in Algerian sport to successfully defend their Olympic title,” she said.
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