US President Donald Trump on Wednesday falsely called Algerian boxer Imane Khelif a male and signed an executive order banning transgender girls and women from competing in women's sports.
Surrounded by dozens of girls and women, many in sporting attire, Mr Trump said the move would keep sports fair. He gave examples of transgender women participating in women's sports including – wrongly –the welterweight Algerian boxer who won Olympic gold in Paris last summer.
“And who could forget last year's Paris Olympics, where a male boxer stole the women's gold medal after brutalising his female opponent so viciously that she had to forfeit just after 46 seconds, and she was a championship fighter,” Mr Trump said during the ceremony.
“But all of that ends today, because with this executive order, the war on women's sports is over.”
Khelif, 25, whose gender was assigned female at birth and who has always competed as a woman, came under the spotlight during the summer Games in Paris after she won in the first round over Italy's Angela Carini. The Italian quit the bout after 46 seconds in tears, claiming that she had never been punched so hard in her career.
It also surfaced during the Games that the International Boxing Association had previously disqualified Khelif for failing gender eligibility criteria. The disqualification was later thrown out. The International Olympic Committee and its Paris Boxing Unit both said Khelif was eligible to compete in the Olympics and criticised the IBA's previous disqualification as “sudden and arbitrary”.
The Algerian eventually went on to beat China's Yang Liu to win Olympic gold in the 66kg division. But the original disqualification and a series of victories led to a harassment campaign against her on social media, which was picked up by a number of high-profile figures – including Mr Trump.
During his presidential campaign in the summer, he falsely referred to Khelif and fellow boxer Li Yu-ting of Taiwan as men who had transitioned.
This is the second time Mr Trump has addressed the issue of gender with an executive order since coming into office on January 20. On his first day in the White House, he signed an order “defending women from gender-ideology extremism” and stated that the federal government will recognise only two genders. He also has banned transgender personnel from serving in the military.
“The radical left has waged an all-out campaign to erase the very concept of biological sex and replace it with a militant transgender ideology,” Mr Trump said to applause from the crowd.
In December, Khelif said that any future efforts to question her gender would lead to legal action.
“I am fully qualified to take part in this competition – I am a woman,” Khelif said after winning the gold. “I was born a woman, I’ve lived as a woman and I’ve competed as a woman.”
