Paris 2024 Olympics: The crazy announcement from Imane Khelif's coach, 3 days after the controversy

While his protégé, Imane Khelif, has already guaranteed a medal for Algeria after her clear victory against the Hungarian Anna Luca Hamori in the quarter-finals of the Paris 2024 Olympics, Mohamed Chaoua made a completely unexpected announcement. After the flood of questions about the gender of his 25-year-old boxer, the coach is taking legal action against one of the biggest bodies in English boxing.

Having arrived quietly at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games with the Algerian delegation, Imane Khelif has become a real star since Thursday. Unknown to the general public until these Olympic Games, the boxer hit hard against Angela Carini, an Italian boxer, in the round of 16 of the women's boxing tournament in the under 66 kg category. After 46 seconds of combat, Khelif's opponent will give up on the pretext that the blows received to the face were very painful, which will cause a big controversy over the gender of the Algerian who has a masculine physique.

The very tense situation around Khelif at the Paris Olympics

Despite successfully passing tests with the IOC before the start of the Paris 2024 Olympics, the 25-year-old hyperandrogenic will be subjected to a wave of discriminatory and hateful messages. From Donald Trump, former president of the USA, to the Italian Prime Minister and other major world figures such as Elon Musk, boss of Tesla and X (formerly Twitter), many believe that Imane Khelif should not fight in the women's category. With a testosterone level much higher than that of women naturally, the Algerian has been criticized.

But with the unwavering support of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), which intervened to put an end to the controversy and, above all, to dismiss the Hungarian Olympic Committee's demand for her exclusion, Imane Khelif has become a symbol for those who fight for the rights of every human being. In the quarter-finals this Saturday against the Hungarian Anna Hamori, the 25-year-old Algerian won and burst into tears, overcome by emotion since she had just guaranteed a medal for her country.

The Imane Khelif clan takes the IBA to court

Before competing in the semi-final, the Algerian boxer's entourage decided to make themselves heard. Indeed, according to Mohamed Chaoua, Imane Khelif's coach, a complaint will be filed against the International Boxing Association (IBA). In an interview with the French newspaper The Teamthe one who runs the Algerian hyperandrogen did not hesitate to describe this world body of English boxing as a “mafia” involved in dubious practices.

Chaoua's shocking announcement comes after controversial events that have highlighted irregularities in the management of competitions and refereeing decisions. While his athlete was excluded from the 2023 World Championships, the Algerian coach severely criticized the IBA, accusing it of bias and corruption. These are serious accusations that call into question the integrity of the organization.

In addition, Mohamed Chaoua denounces a system where decisions could be influenced by personal or financial interests, to the detriment of sporting fairness. According to him, these practices have directly impacted Imane Khelif's career and have undermined the credibility of the IBA. In any case, the message has been received… Imane Khelif will go to court to try to change things once and for all.

It should be noted that the Algerian boxer was excluded from the athletics championship last year by this body led by the Russian Umar Kremlev just before her fight for the gold medal in New Delhi. Subjected to certain tests established by the international federation (IBA), Imane Khelif had failed this control, just like the Taiwanese Lin Yu-ting who, consequently, had lost her bronze medal. It is understandable why the Algerian coach wants to take advantage of the fervor surrounding his athlete to settle the scores.