“Imane Khelif's medical report leaked?” There is no proof that it is real

This information spread between November 4 and 5, 2024, both on Polish social media and Polish sports websites. Sensational headlines concerned boxer Imane Khelif and her gender. Let us remember: Algerian woman – Olympic champion from Paris – was already publicly accused during the games of being a man, and yet she competes with women. The Algerian player then became the subject of many fake news, which we also verified in Konkret24. And now the topic of Imane Khelif's gender came back after three months, and a sensation was caused by the “revealed” alleged test results of the boxer, which were supposed to confirm that Khelif is biologically a man.

Larger and smaller Polish news websites, including sports ones, wrote about it. A text from the interia.pl website became particularly popular, with screenshots sent by Internet users. The title was: “End of speculation. Media: Imane Khelif is a man. The medical report is shocking” – so it left no doubt that the information was verified (the text is no longer available). In the lead, the author referred to “French media”.

The titles of other websites that reported this “news” about Imane Khelif also sounded sensational and did not question the authenticity of the cited reports. For example: “Imane Khelif – the Olympic boxing champion from Paris has testicles and a mini-penis. Research has been revealed that shows that the Algerian woman is a man” (Sportowy24/i.pl); “The Olympic champion is supposed to have… testicles and a micropenis. Medical records of the controversial boxer have been leaked” (sport.se.pl); “Khelif is a man after all? The medical report makes it clear” (dorzeczy.pl); “Storm over Imane Khelif's gender. Sharp reaction. 'Biological male'” (przegladsportowy.onet.pl); “The journalist revealed the unofficial results of Imane Khelif's 'gender test'. The entire sports world is extremely moved” (sport.goniec.pl); “Imane Khelif is a man? Shocking test results of the gold 'medalist' of the Olympic Games in Paris” (nielezna.pl); “'Olympian' Imane Khelif is a man – research from French and Algerian hospitals reveal” (kresy.pl).

A similar message spread on social media. “Official! Algerian boxer Imane Khelif, who won the gold medal in women's boxing at the Paris Olympics, has been confirmed as biologically male!”; “A publication in Le Correspondant presented a medical report indicating the absence of a uterus and the presence of testicles in 2024 Olympic Games gold medalist Khelif”; “It has already been finally confirmed that Imane Khelif is a man. Tests at the Bicêtre Hospital in Paris have been revealed, which show that he has XY chromosomes, an underdeveloped penis and testicles in the abdominal cavity,” claimed the authors of the posts on the X website; some have gained enormous popularity – the last one quoted here generated over half a million views.

All Polish websites where we saw texts about the “revealed report” on the gender of a female boxer from Algeria referred to information from two websites – specifying differently which of them was the source of the reports. Some texts wrote, for example: “The lecorrespondant.net portal (…) recently revealed the results of Imane Khelif's medical tests”, and in others: “As we read on the Reduxx website…” or “The report that was disclosed on the reduxx website. info”.

Most Polish articles were structured in such a way that the title, lead and at the beginning of the texts provided information from “revealed” medical reports, and only later it was stipulated – and not always – that the source of these reports may be questionable. On the “Przegląd Sportowy” website, after quoting all the information about Imane Khelif's alleged research, it was noted: “the problem is that the Reduxx website has little in common with reliable journalism” and it was reported that the hospitals did not confirm the truthfulness of the research. Also on sport.se.pl, only at the end of the text we read that “the Paris hospital did not confirm the authenticity of the tests.” The website sport.goniec.pl, although in the title it wrote about the boxer's “unofficial gender test results”, at the end of the text it informed: “such reports probably bring us closer to discovering the whole truth about Imane Khelif's gender” and if this information were confirmed, then “the gold medal won in Paris would certainly be taken away from her.”

The authors of the articles were rather aware that the information about Imane Khelif's “revealed” research was unconfirmed and its source was unreliable. However, before the recipient reached these reservations, the titles read about Khelif as a “biological man”, “testicles and a mini-penis” or “the end of speculations” about the Algerian woman “being a man”.

Meanwhile, nothing in this story about the “revealed report” has been confirmed so far, and many threads have already been denied.

Let's sort out the most important information: excerpts from the alleged medical report on Imane Khelif have appeared already on September 8, 2024 on the French-language portal lecorrespondant.net. The author of the article titled “Imane Khelif is not a woman” – Djaffer Ait Aoudia – claimed that the documents were previously hidden by the athlete herself and the Algerian Olympic Committee (COA), but their content was known to the International Olympic Committee (IOC), which nevertheless allowed Khelif to fights with women. The medical reports were to be prepared in June 2023 at the Bicêtre hospital in Paris and the hospital. Mohamed Lamine-Debaghine in Algiers.

The alleged authors of the reports – endocrinologists Soumaya Fedad and David Joung – allegedly described that Imane Khelif was diagnosed with a genetic anomaly leading to testosterone metabolic dysfunction that only affects boys. Additionally, the tests were to show the absence of a uterus, and instead the presence of testicles in the abdominal cavity, a micropenis and XY chromosomes typical of men. Photos of alleged fragments of the document have been added to the text, showing sentences confirming the cited research. Importantly, however, there is no information anywhere about who exactly these tests concerned (i.e. these sentences visible in the photos) – therefore there is no confirmation that this is Imane Khelif's diagnosis.

The text did not gain much publicity in September, so the author published its extended version on October 25. The main theses were the same, the text was accompanied by the same photos, but… the names and surnames of the alleged authors of the study had changed. Soumaya Fedad has now been introduced as Soumaya Fedal and David Joung as Jacques Young. Strong, memorable statements were also added, such as: “Clearly Imane Khelif is a man in a woman's shell. Or a woman in a man's shell. Not a 'normal' girl, anyway…”.

This time, the English-language portal Reduxx was interested in the content of the article – it played such a large role in publicizing this story that some Polish portals cited it as a source. Text “Algerian boxer Imane Khelif has XY chromosomes and 'testes': French-Algerian medical report confirms” appeared on this website on November 4, it was fully based on earlier reports.

However, Reduxx is not a reliable source of information – especially regarding transgenderism. Its founder, the author of the text about Imane Khelif – Anna Slatz – regularly publishes homophobic, transphobic, racist, anti-Semitic and, above all, untrue content there. That's why Reduxx were called already a “trans-obsessed website”.

An unreliable source is not the only weakness that undermines the story about Imane Khelif's allegedly leaked research. Doctor Jacques Young – this is the real name of the French endocrinologist – actually works at the Bicêtre hospital in Paris, but in conversation from Deutsche Welle stated that his name was used to spread false information and transphobic content. Earlier, v statement sent to the Portuguese portal Poligrafo, he assured that the sources of this information were unreliable because he had never written “anything about this person” (Imane Khelif – ed.). Poligrafo journalists also checked that Jacques Young has been the head of the endocrinology department at a Paris hospital since September 2023, while the alleged report about the boxer was supposed to be made in June 2023.

None of the hospitals mentioned in the text of the lecorrespondant.net portal confirmed the reports contained therein. Alizée Barbaro-Feauveaux from the Bicêtre hospital in Paris, in response to questions from Konkret24, said that the facility “does not provide any information regarding medical confidentiality, and in particular does not specify whether a given person took part in a consultation.” The hospital in Algiers did not respond at all to the questions of Konkret24 or other editorial offices that contacted it on this matter.

The Algerian Olympic Committee (COA) and the International Olympic Committee (IOC) responded to the information about Imane Khelif. National union of Algeria in statement sent to Deutsche Welle criticized the “continuous and baseless attacks” on his Olympian. “These attacks, often based on baseless allegations, aim to tarnish the image of an athlete who has brought honor to our nation on the international stage,” he said.

The IOC refused to comment on media reports, but at the same time described the medical reports made public as “unverified documents whose origin cannot be confirmed.” The IOC also said it was “saddened by the violence Imane Khelif is currently suffering” and understands why the boxer is “preparing a lawsuit in response to the latest reports.”

Imane Khelif herself has not publicly commented on the issue of “revealed” medical reports. We did not find – similarly to foreign editorial offices – any evidence that could prove their truthfulness. There are still many question marks in this story.

READ MORE IN KONKRET24: Imane Khelif “loses all medals”? “Embarrassing disinformation”