I’m a female Aussie boxer and I battered Imane Khelif in the ring. You might see her as ‘a man’ but she wasn’t even that strong

An Australian boxer who beat the fighter at the heart of the Olympics ‘gender test’ row says her opponent wasn’t even that strong.

Algerian boxer Imane Khelif’s participation in the women’s welterweight class in Paris sparked a storm of controversy after it emerged that she failed the International Boxing Association’s gender eligibility test.

Khelif and Taiwanese boxer Lin Yu-ting – who also failed the test – have both reached the finals of their respective weight divisions, with the Algerian fighting for gold on Friday night.

Aussie Anja Stridsman beat Khelif in 2019.

‘I remembered fighting her. She wasn’t particularly strong. Perhaps a bit angry but people get into this sport for different reasons,’ the 2018 Commonwealth Games champion said.

‘I remember people commenting to me “surely she’s a man” and “good on you for beating a man” and it angered me. Sure, it is easy to believe she is a man, she is masculine presenting, but who are we to judge her. Let her look however she wants.

‘I won the fight. Her power was not any worse than any other female in the division.’  

Stridsman said it was time for a conversation about ‘trans athletes in competitive sports’ but called on people to be kind to Khelif.

‘Do not judge before you have all the information at hand,’ she said.

Stridsman said it was time for a conversation about ‘trans athletes in competitive sports’ but called on people to be kind to Khelif

Algerian boxer Imane Khelif’s participation in the women’s welterweight class in Paris sparked a storm of controversy 

Both Khelif and Lin Yu-ting were disqualified from last year’s Women’s World Championships for allegedly failing gender eligibility tests, but were cleared to fight in France by Games bosses. 

They are now into the gold medal match in the welterweight and featherweight divisions respectively.

The debate came to a head regarding Khelif when she beat Italian opponent Angela Carini.

Carini withdrew from the fight after just 46 seconds after taking a heavy punch, saying afterwards that she had ‘never been hit so hard in my life.’

Khelif said that she did not care about the controversy swirling over her inclusion in the women’s 66kg boxing category 

However, Carini later said she ‘wants to apologize’ to Khelif, whom she did not shake hands with after the fight. 

After her semi-final victory, Khelif said that she did not care about the controversy swirling over her inclusion in the women’s 66kg boxing category.

Having avoided the huge media scrum after her previous bouts, Khelif broke her silence to maintain: ‘I don’t care what anyone is saying about me with the controversy.

‘All that is important to me is that I stay on the level and give my people the performance they deserve. I know I’m a talented person and this is a gift to all Algerians.’