Algerian boxer Imane Khelif who controversially won gold at the 2024 Paris Olympics in the women’s 66kg category after his opponent famously gave up mid-fight, is indeed a man and has "testicles," according to a report by French journalist Djaffar Ait Aoudia who at the end of October, obtained a copy of a thorough physical examination that was conducted on Khelif in order to verify the presence of a sexual development disorder.
According to a clinical report drafted in June of 2023 by expert endocrinologists Soumaya Fedala and Jacques Young via a collaboration between the Kremlin-Bicêtre hospital in Paris, France, and the Mohamed Lamine Debaghine hospital in Algiers, Algeria, an MRI determined that Khelif had no uterus, but instead had internal testicles and a “micropenis” resembling an enlarged clitoris.
A chromosomal test further confirmed that Khelif has an XY karyotype, while a hormone test found that he had a testosterone level typical of males. The doctors also suggested his parents may have been blood relatives.
The report reveals that Khelif is impacted by 5-alpha reductase deficiency, a disorder of sexual development that is only found in biological males. The genetic abnormality influences the normal development of a child’s sexual organs. At birth, male babies impacted by 5-alpha are often incorrectly assigned female due to the presence of deformed genitalia that sometimes takes on the appearance of a “blind vaginal pouch.”
According to researchers, this disordered typically becomes apparent by puberty, when 5-alpha adolescents begin to experience signs of masculinization such as muscle growth, hair growth, and an absence of breast tissue development or menstruation. Without access to a proper clinical examination, males with 5-alpha may incorrectly believe they are female into adulthood.
The report concludes by recommending Khelif be referred for “surgical correction and hormone therapy,” to help him physically align with his self-perceived gender identity, and adds that psychological support would be required because the results had caused a “very significant neuropsychiatric impact.”
After being disqualified from women’s boxing by the International Boxing Association (IBA) in March of 2023, Khelif’s coach, Georges Cazorla, that the Algerian boxer had been subjected to an assessment at the Kremlin-Bicêtre Hospital.
Also during a press conference in August, the IBA repeatedly confirmed that Khelif had failed multiple chromosomal tests, but was unable to release barred from releasing the results of those tests by the Algerian Olympic Committee.
Amid the online firestorm over Khelif, several prominent people including Tesla chief Elon Musk and author JK Rowling condemned the Paris Olympics' decision to allow him to compete in the women's category. Both were later named in a lawsuit filed by Khelif in a French court.
