Rome, Mar 19 (LaPresse) – Imane Khelif has made it known that she is looking forward to defending her Olympic title in Los Angeles and will not be intimidated by Donald Trump. The 25-year-old Algerian boxer, who won the title at the Games amidst controversy and much media attention at the Paris Olympics last year, has expressed her intention to repeat the feat in 2028 and responded after Trump last August wrongly claimed she was a transgender athlete. In an interview with ITV News to be aired tonight, Khelif (who has suffered from birth from hyperandrogenism, an excessive production of male hormones including testosterone, and this has created an endless series of problems for her) said: ‘I'll give you a straight answer: the President of the United States has issued a decision regarding transgender policies in America. I am not transgender. This does not affect or intimidate me'. Khelif's victory in Paris, along with that of Taiwan's Lin Yu Ting, sparked a debate on gender eligibility. Khelif, who filed a ‘cyber harassment’ lawsuit in August in which she sued Musk and Rowling, revealed that she was ‘deeply affected mentally’ by the ‘huge media campaign’ surrounding her and claimed that her mother went to the hospital almost every day while her family shared the brunt of the attacks.
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