"Shocking" - Donald Trump displeased with Imane Khelif and Lin Yu-ting winning the gold medal at Paris Olympics, calls them 'guys'

By Animesh Pandey

Modified Oct 22, 2024 05:39 GMT

Donald Trump recently recalled the controversy around the Paris Olympics, especially the one involving Algerian boxer Imane Khelif. In a recent podcast with Mark Calaway, aka 'The Undertaker', Trump opened up on the controversy related to the boxer.

In the podcast titled 'Six Feet Under', Donald Trump talked about everything, from surviving two assassination attempts to his views on wrestling. When asked about women's sports, Trump reiterated his stance of keeping women's sports only for women.

It was at the same moment that he talked about Khelif at length. Recalling the controversial bout between the Algerian boxer and Angela Carini of Italy, Trump commented,

"Did you see that beautiful Italian girl? She's supposed to be a good boxer. She took just a left jab. The guy goes (Trump throws a punch) boom." [56:10 onwards]

However, Trump did not stop just there. He openly expressed his displeasure over the free pass given to the Algerian boxer and Lin Yu-Ting of Taiwan at the Paris Olympics.

"Now there were two in the Olympics [referring to Lin Yu-Ting and Imane Khelif]. Because I didn't even know they had female boxing. There were two people that transitioned into women. Both of them won the gold medal. Shockingly,” Trump further added.

Imane Khelif and Lin Yu-Ting participated at the Paris Olympics in the women's boxing welterweight category and the featherweight category, respectively. Despite the controversy around their gender, both were allowed to take part, and both went on to win the Olympic gold medal in their respective categories.

---

All about the Imane Khelif controversy at the Paris Olympics

Imane Khelif of Algeria posing with her gold medal after winning the Paris Olympics [Image Source : Getty]

Imane Khelif of Algeria qualified for the Paris Olympics by virtue of her performance at the African Qualification Tournament held in Senegal in September 2023. However, by the time the Paris Olympics had come up, her participation invoked a huge controversy.

This was because Khelif had been disqualified by the IBA in early 2023, before the finals of the Women's World Boxing Championships, over her gender identity. The authorities alleged that the Algerian boxer had XY chromosomes, which indicated that she may have been a biological male before. This was the same ground on which Lin Yu-Ting was disqualified as well.

However, when IBA was disbanded by the International Olympic Committee, the organizers of the Paris Olympics allowed both the boxers to participate, despite inviting criticism from several sportspersons, including swimmer turned social activist Riley Gaines and Jake Paul. Despite the controversy around her gender, Imane Khelif went on to win the gold medal, defeating defending world champion Yang Liu of China by 5-0.