Olympic champion Imane Khelif denies ‘malicious’ claims of retirement

Olympic boxing champion Imane Khelif has denied claims made by her former supervisor that she has retired from the game, saying she continues to be coaching often.

Algerian Khelif and Taiwan’s Lin Yu-ting had been within the highlight on the Paris Games final 12 months over their eligibility after they’d been disqualified from the 2023 World Championships by the IBA, which stated intercourse chromosome assessments had dominated them ineligible.

However, they competed within the girls’s class in Paris after being cleared by the International Olympic Committee, with each successful gold medals of their weight lessons.

Khelif has not competed since her win in Paris.

In an interview with French newspaper Nice-Matin on Wednesday, Khelif’s former supervisor Nasser Yesfah stated she had “left the world of boxing”.

In a follow-up interview with the identical newspaper hours later, Yesfah clarified he was solely referring to Khelif’s boxing commitments within the metropolis of Nice, the place she was beforehand a part of the Nice Azur membership.

Khelif criticised Yesfah’s feedback in a put up on Facebook on Wednesday.

“It is based solely on statements made by a person who no longer represents me in any way, and whom I consider to have betrayed my trust and my country with his false and malicious statements,” Khelif wrote.

“I’ve by no means introduced my retirement from boxing. I stay dedicated to my sporting profession, coaching often and sustaining my bodily health between Algeria and Qatar in preparation for upcoming occasions.

“The publication of such rumours is intended solely to disrupt and damage my sporting and professional career.”

Khelif had been resulting from compete in a World Boxing match within the Netherlands in June, however opted to skip it shortly after the governing physique initially introduced its plans to introduce intercourse testing for all boxers in its competitions.

World Boxing president Boris van der Vorst later apologised after Khelif was named of their announcement on obligatory intercourse testing, saying her privateness ought to have been protected.

Khelif, 26, has repeatedly stated she was born a girl and has a protracted historical past in feminine boxing competitions. In March, she stated she would defend her title on the 2028 Los Angeles Games.