Questions began to appear on social media about Khelif's legitimacy in the sport following a statement from the International Boxing Association and a Russian boxing federation, that Khelif failed a gender eligibility test in 2023, leading to multiple allegations that Khelif was in fact a male, not a female.
Khelif beat Italian boxer Angela Carini in only 46 seconds, which further added to the social media outrage. Elon Musk & United States Republican Vice Presidential candidate JD Vance even joined all of the hate on the internet.
Khelif identifies as a female and has never said that she used to be a male. She called the IBA's claims an "injustice". Khelif is from Algeria, which is a country that has strict laws against LGBTQ+ rights, including everything related to gender identity and transitioning.
The IOC confirmed they do support Khelif against all the criticisms over her eligibility, stating that she did participate in the 2020 Olympics, however she didn't win any medals. Despite not releasing the findings of Khelif's tests, the IOC says Khelif, and another boxer who was also questioned, Lin Yu-ting, met the eligibility to compete at this year's Olympics.