Olympic boxing champion Imane Khelif has lodged a legal complaint in France for online harassment after a barage of criticism and false claims about her sex during the Paris Olympics, her lawyer said Sunday.
The controversial boxer, who will be Algeria’s flag bearer in the closing ceremony, won gold Friday in the women’s welterweight division, becoming a new hero in her native Algeria and bringing global attention to women’s boxing.
The boxer’s complaint, filed on Friday with a special unit in the Paris prosecutor’s office for combating online hate speech, centred on “aggravated cyber-harassment”, according to her lawyer, Nabil Boudi.
He described the attacks as misogynistic, racist and sexist against Khelif.
He said having won a gold medal at the Paris Olympics, the boxer’s new fight is for justice, dignity and honour.
Boudi added that the petition was aimed at unmasking who initiated the “misogynistic, racist and sexist campaign” against Khelif.
He said the ‘unfair harassment’ suffered by his client would remain the biggest stain on the Olympic Games.
Khelif won gold after decimating China’s Yang Liu by unanimous decision in the women’s welterweight final.
Khelif won all three rounds on the judges’ scorecards.
In celebration, she jumped into the arms of her trainer who then carried her around the arena on his shoulders in celebration.
Khelif became a buzzword online after a previous fighter quit after 46 seconds, saying it was to protect her health as the Algerian’s punches were too strong.
Many called for her disqualification because of her earlier gender row, alleging that she was a man masquerading as a female.
Khelif responded at the time that her winning gold would be the “best response” to her critics.