Trump’s latest campaign ad, featuring footage of Olympic boxer Imane Khelif, has sparked controversy due to its messaging.
Imane Khelif, an Algerian boxer, won a gold medal in the women’s welterweight category at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games amid significant debate over her eligibility.
The International Olympic Committee had previously confirmed Khelif’s eligibility to compete in women’s boxing at the Paris Games despite her earlier ban from the 2023 Boxing World Championships for allegedly failing gender tests.
Former President Donald Trump has blasted transgender rights in several rallies in the past week, extending his rhetoric to incorrectly target female Olympians.
Trump’s campaign ad and Imane Khelif
Trump’s final campaign ad before Tuesday’s United States presidential elections provides a closing criticism of Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign. In the video, footage of Khelif winning at the Olympics is shown while examples of things that have allegedly “fallen apart” under the Biden-Harris administration are listed. As one of these examples, the narrator says: “Men can beat up women and win medals.”
Trump previously attacked Khelif earlier this year amid controversy over her inclusion in the women’s category in the Olympics. During a recent appearance on the “Six Feet Under” podcast, hosted by retired professional wrestler Mark Calaway, Trump continually referred to Khelif as a ‘man’ after Calaway urged him that ‘protecting’ women’s sports from transgender athletes was a huge priority for him during the upcoming election.
“It’s demeaning to women,” Trump said on the podcast. “Women should compete against women. You don’t necessarily want to play against men; it’s okay to say that.”
Trump then said that Italian boxer Angela Carini, who lost against Khelif, was “cheated.”
“That Italian girl took a punch like I’d never seen. He [referring to Khelif] goes in with another left jab, and she realized, ‘There’s no way I can win.’”
Trump has also been vocal about Khelif’s Olympic win at his rallies and has cited the match with Carini.
“Now all you have to do is look at the boxers. This young girl from Italy, a champion boxer, she got hit so hard she didn’t know what the hell hit her,” Trump said at a rally in Atlanta. “It’s a person that transitioned. He was a good male boxer. And [Carini] didn’t even go down. He hit her with two jabs, and she said, ‘I’m out.’”
Concern over gender row
Following the Paris Olympics, Trump has falsely claimed that two boxers, Khelif and Taiwan’s Lin Yu-Ting, had “transitioned from men to women” and won gold medals. However, both boxers have participated in women’s boxing for the entirety of their careers, which date back to 2018 and 2013, respectively, and they insist that they were born women. Critics have not been able to provide any evidence to suggest otherwise.
Despite asserting that she was born female, Khelif received a huge backlash following her Olympic success, causing her father to even produce her birth certificate to confirm her gender.
Mark Adams, a spokesperson from the International Olympic Committee, said at the time that Khelif is not a transgender athlete and added that every person competing in the Olympics’ women’s competitions complied with eligibility rules. He also noted that Khelif and Yu-Ting are identified as females on their passports.
Following the Games, Khelif filed a lawsuit against Trump, along with X owner Elon Musk and British author J.K. Rowling for cyberbullying. All three posted disparaging comments questioning Khelif’s gender.
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