Boxer Imane Khelif has filed a lawsuit over alleged cyberbullying during the Paris 2024 Olympics, which reportedly names author JK Rowling and X owner Elon Musk.
The Algerian boxer won gold in Paris, despite being disqualified from last year’s World Championships by the International Boxing Association (IBA), after she was reported to have failed gender eligibility tests in 2023.
However, the International Olympic Committee strongly defended Khelif’s right to compete and ruled her to be eligible.
Her lawyer Nabil Boudi told Variety on Tuesday that Musk and Rowling would be named in the lawsuit, following comments they made on social media.
Khelif’s participation was widely discussed online, after Italian boxer Angela Carini abandoned her Olympic bout against her after 46 seconds.
Paris public prosecutor’s office told news agency AFP on Wednesday that they had launched a cyberbullying probe, following a complaint by Khelif.
However, a prominent French legal blogger wrote on X that it is unlikely Mr Musk or Ms Rowling would face prosecution, as French penal law doesn’t apply to acts committed outside of France against foreign nationals.
But prosecutors could press charges against those who sent messages on French soil.
Khelif, along with Taiwan’s Lin Yu-ting, was cleared to compete in the women’s boxing in Paris, having been disqualified from last year’s Women’s World Championships for failing to meet eligibility criteria.
But the IOC took a different view, strongly defending the two boxers.
“This is a question of justice: women must be allowed to take part in women’s competitions. And the two are women,” IOC president Thomas Bach said.
X CEO Mr Musk and Harry Potter author Ms Rowling both posted comments about the boxer, with Ms Rowling saying Khelif was “enjoying the distress of a woman he’s just punched in the head” following the fight with Carini.
Mr Musk shared a post from swimmer Riley Gaines which said “men don’t belong in women’s sports”.
BBC News has contacted representatives for Mr Musk and Ms Rowling for comment.
Following her win, Khelif said “attacks” over her gender eligibility gave her victory against Chinese world champion Yang Liu a “special taste” after she won Olympic women’s boxing gold, a year after being disqualified from the World Championships.
“I am fully qualified to take part in this competition,” said 25-year-old Khelif. “I am a woman like any other woman.
“I was born a woman. I have lived as a woman. I competed as a woman – there is no doubt about that.”
A day after abandoning her own fight with Khelif, Carini said she “wanted to apologise” to her opponent for how she handled the moments afterwards, when she declined to shake hands with Khelif.
Yang had also been due to face Khelif in the final of last year’s World Championship – a title Yang went on to win – but Khelif was disqualified by the International Boxing Association (IBA) before they met.
The IBA said Khelif and Lin “failed to meet the eligibility criteria for participating in the women’s competition, as set and laid out in the IBA regulations”.
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) allowed them to compete, raised doubts about the tests and strongly criticised the IBA.
A chaotic news conference held subsequently by the IBA did little to clear the confusion around Khelif and Lin’s bans.
Chief executive Chris Roberts said the pair had “chromosome tests”, while president Umar Kremlev appeared to suggest the tests determined the fighters’ testosterone levels.
The BBC has been unable to determine what the eligibility tests consisted of.
The Russian-led IBA was stripped of its status as amateur boxing’s governing body by the IOC in 2019 because of fears over its governance and regulation.