French left-wing leaders are hailing Imane Khelif, the Algerian boxer at the centre of a gender dispute at the Paris Olympics,for overcoming 'fascist criticism'.
Khelif won the gold medal in the women's welterweight (66kg) category on Friday against China's Liu Yang. But has been in the spotlight after being subjected to harassment and abuse on social media by those who questioned her gender.
Misinformation on the internet - and the results of an unspecified eligibility test by a controversial and discredited boxing body - led to suggestions that Khelif, along with fellow Olympian Lin Yu-ting of Taiwan, was not female.
Khelif filed a formal legal complaint with French prosecutors alleging harassment and abuse after a storm of hateful comments were shared online during the contest of champions.
French MPs have now rushed to her defence, praising her 'strength' and 'great courage', and claiming that her victory is the 'best response' to the 'filthy attacks' she has endured.
French left-wing leaders have hailed Imane Khelif, (pictured Friday after winning gold at the Paris Olympics) the Algerian boxer at the centre of a gender dispute at the Paris Olympics , for overcoming 'fascist criticism'
Khelif (pictured in the finals on Friday) won the gold medal in the women's welterweight (66kg) category on Friday against China 's Liu Yang. But has been in the spotlight after being subjected to harassment and abuse on social media by those who questioned her gender
'We tell you, the tears of fascists make you stronger. Well done, Imane Khelif,' Green MPSandrine Rousseau said, The Telegraph reported.
Ersilia Soudais, an MP in the hard-left La France Insoumise, echoed:'Keep crying, fascists. I drink your tears.'
Aurélie Trouvé, anotherLa France Insoumise MP, added that Khelif 'faced so many filthy attacks with great courage' and said the 'best response' to the criticisms 'is this gold medal'.
On Friday, Khelif won Algeria's first women's boxing medal with a decisive victory in the welterweight division final, beating Yang Liu of China.
Lin routed Julia Szeremeta of Poland 5:0 in the final, capping her four-fight unbeaten run through Paris by winning Taiwan's first Olympic boxing gold medal.
Both Khelif and Lin persevered through an avalanche of criticism and uninformed speculation about their sex during the Paris tournament to deliver the best performances of their boxing careers.
World leaders, celebrities and online critics attempted to make it about something other than the boxers' years of work.
The detractors either questioned their eligibility to be in women's competitions or falsely claimed they were men, forcing both women to take unwanted starring roles in a debate over changing attitudes toward gender identity and safety regulation in sports.
Both fighters were disqualified last year from the world championships organised by the International Boxing Association, a troubled and discredited Russian-dominated sporting bodythat has been banished from the Olympics since 2019.
Imane Khelif celebrates with her gold medal after winning the women's welterweight boxing at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games amid a storm of controversy
Khelif took the gold after a bout withLiu Yang of China on Friday, defying those who criticised her or spread misinformation about her gender
Imane Khelif of Algeria shakes hands with Liu Yang of China after her win to take the gold
The IBA said both Khelif and Lin, who also underwent the test, had failed to meet 'required necessary eligibility criteria'.
Both fighters were dropped from the championships and Russian boxer Azalia Amineva, a hitherto undefeated prospect, retained a perfect win record that would have otherwise been halted by Khelif's victory.
The IBAhas never declared exactly what these tests were, or the results that led to their conclusion to drop the fighters.But that hasn't stopped criticism and speculation from proliferating online.
The two boxers' detractors included former US President Donald Trump, Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling and Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni.
Their presence in Paris became a weapon in a largely Western culture clash over eligibility for women's sports. Khelif said a gold medal would be the 'best response' to the uproar.
She has also filed a formal legal complaint with French prosecutors on Friday urging them to investigate the online harassment, herlawyer Nabil Boudi revealed.
The complaint has not been made against someone specific but instead will spark an investigation into who started what her lawyer called a 'digital lynching'.
Apress release issued by the lawyer on Saturday evening read: 'After sporting time comes legal time.
'Having just won a gold medal at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games, the boxer Imane Khelif has decided to take on a new fight: that of justice, dignity and honour.
A press release issued by her lawyer Nabil Boudi labelled the harassment 'the greatest stain on these Olympic Games'
Khelif has hit out at online hatred, insisting: 'I am a woman like any woman...I was born a woman'
Khelif (pictured front right) as a child growing up in Algeria
'Ms Khelif has recruited (our) firm which has filed, yesterday, a complaint for aggravated cyber harassment with the online hate unit of the Paris prosecutor's' office.
'The criminal investigation will determine who has initiated this misogynistic, racist and sexist campaign but will also focus on who has fed this digital lynching.
'The unfair harassment suffered by this champion boxer will remain the greatest stain of these Olympic Games.'
Khelif has defied the misinformation throughout the competition, and told a press conference after winning her medal: 'I am a woman like any woman. I was born a woman and I have lived as a woman but there are enemies to success and they can't digest my success.'
She later added: 'All that is being said about me on social mediais immoral. I want to change the minds of people around the world.'
Khelif and Lin are both previous Olympic competitors. The Algerian represented her country at Tokyo 2020, where she was defeated by Ireland's Kellie Harrington in the quarter-finals, while Lin failed to make it past the early rounds at the same Games.
In a statement issued earlier in the Games, the IOC hit out at the 'aggression against these two athletes...based entirely on this arbitrary decision, which was taken without any proper procedure'.
Lin Yu-Ting is also an Olympic champion after winning the women'sfeatherweight gold in Paris tonight in the face of online hate
It said: 'Every person has the right to practise sport without discrimination.'
Lin has also scooped a gold medal in the featherweight final after winning her bout on Saturday.
The IBA was dropped by the International Olympic Committee last year (IOC) amid long-standing concerns about its governance and transparency.
The firm is largely financed by Russian state energy firm Gazprom and has been presided over by an Uzbek boss with alleged links to organised crime and, since 2020, a Russian who labelled the IOC president 'chief sodomite'.
