{"id":957294,"date":"2026-11-08T17:52:10","date_gmt":"2026-11-08T17:52:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/957294\/"},"modified":"2026-11-08T17:52:10","modified_gmt":"2026-11-08T17:52:10","slug":"gender-furore-boxer-imane-khelif-makes-shock-decision-two-years-after-paris-olympics-controversy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/957294\/","title":{"rendered":"Gender furore boxer Imane Khelif makes shock decision two years after Paris Olympics controversy"},"content":{"rendered":"

Imane Khelif will make her professional boxing debut in December in her first fight since winning Olympic gold two years ago.<\/p>\n

The Algerian, 27, became embroiled in a huge controversy at the Paris Games in 2024 when her triumph in the welterweight division was overshadowed by a row regarding her eligibility.<\/p>\n

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Khelif was forced to defend her position in the event after reports emerged claiming that she had failed a gender eligibility test during an event the year before.<\/p>\n

She would go on to win gold in the tournament with a victory over China\u2018s Yang Liu.<\/p>\n

Watch the biggest Aussie sports & the best from overseas LIVE on Kayo Sports | Get Kayo now ><\/a><\/p>\n

World Boxing introduced new measures in the wake of the Games that required athletes to undergo sex screening before being allowed to compete.<\/p>\n

Khelif was born and raised female, but has been accused of having differences of sexual development.<\/p>\n

And while she has declared a desire to go back to the Olympics in LA in 2028<\/a>, Khelif has announced she is now turning pro \u2014 with her debut scheduled against 4-0 Dutch fighter Clarida Sarabia in Paris on December 16 (AEST).<\/p>\n

Speaking on the move to the pro game, she said: \u201cIt\u2019s been over two years since I last boxed, and I\u2019ve really missed being in the ring.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Angela<\/p>\n

And in a promotional video on Instagram, she added: \u201cI waited, doubted. But deep inside, the fire never died.\u201d<\/p>\n

Khelif was due to return to the ring in April, before her pro career was postponed due to an injury.<\/p>\n

Khelif\u2019s coach Kamel Abdesselam has claimed the Olympic champion has no interest in going to the LA Games and is currently focused on winning a world title in the professional ranks.<\/p>\n

She appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport after World Boxing made the decision to exclude her from events without genetic testing.<\/p>\n

However, an attempt to suspend that decision was rejected in September last year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Imane Khelif will make her professional boxing debut in December in her first fight since winning Olympic gold…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":957295,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[571],"tags":[524692,524676,25668,32601,140849,524694,419287,433716,524703,524680,524695,524690,379486,391224,88040,387986,414561,524696,9356,49424,10323,64,63,802,512,120167,524702,88099,3172,524688,524684,524697,5284,393895,440112,524681,524691,387578,524687,524686,524700,63170,1202,62756,38311,524699,25727,45755,379336,381230,44,179049,145298,524685,382196,2591,524679,113318,232,43157,64174,524683,32732,588,85,382403,524704,381352,382194,524677,378543,378533,380229,387514,382541,378583,524701,377421,524675,162504,524689,524693,524674,524678,2974,359749,378187,524698,524682,381028,11836],"class_list":["post-957294","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-boxing","tag-s-yang-liu-watch","tag-s-coach-kamel-abdesselam","tag-25668","tag-32601","tag-140849","tag-4-0-dutch-fighter-clarida-sarabia","tag-a-victory","tag-a-desire","tag-a-gender-eligibility-test","tag-a-huge-controversy","tag-a-major-move","tag-a-promotional-video","tag-a-row","tag-a-world-title","tag-aest","tag-an-attempt","tag-an-event","tag-an-injury-khelif","tag-april","tag-arbitration","tag-athletes","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-boxing","tag-china","tag-december","tag-december-16","tag-differences","tag-events","tag-gender-furore-boxer","tag-gender-furore-boxer-imane-khelif","tag-genetic-testing-however","tag-gold","tag-her-career","tag-her-debut","tag-her-eligibility-be","tag-her-first-fight","tag-her-position","tag-her-pro-career","tag-her-professional-boxing-debut","tag-her-triumph","tag-imane-khelif","tag-instagram","tag-kayo","tag-kayo-sports","tag-khelif","tag-la","tag-last-year","tag-more-than-two-years","tag-new-measures","tag-news","tag-no-interest","tag-olympic-gold","tag-our-new-appkhelif","tag-overseas-live","tag-paris","tag-paris-olympics-controversy","tag-pro","tag-reports","tag-september","tag-sex-screening","tag-sexual-development-and","tag-shock-decision","tag-sport","tag-sports","tag-that-decision","tag-the-algerian","tag-the-best","tag-the-biggest-aussie-sports","tag-the-controversial-boxer","tag-the-court","tag-the-decision","tag-the-event","tag-the-fire","tag-the-first","tag-the-games","tag-the-la-games","tag-the-move","tag-the-olympic-champion","tag-the-olympics","tag-the-paris-games","tag-the-paris-olympic-games","tag-the-pro-game","tag-the-professional-ranks-she","tag-the-ring","tag-the-tournament","tag-the-wake","tag-the-welterweight-division","tag-the-year-before-she","tag-two-years","tag-world-boxing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/957294","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=957294"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/957294\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/957295"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=957294"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=957294"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=957294"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}