Strictly's Motsi Mabuse weighs in on Imane Khelif's Olympics boxing gender row
Motsi Mabuse has weighed in on the Olympics boxing gender row with a post fiercely defending Imane Khelif.
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Motsi Mabuse has become the latest celebrity to speak out on the bitter Olympics gender row between boxers Imane Khelif and Angela Carini.
Fierce debate erupted on Thursday after Carini quit 46 seconds into their fight at the Games in Paris.
As a result, Khelif became one of the Olympics' most talked about athletes after it was revealed she was thrown out of the 2023 world championships after failing to meet gender eligibility criteria.
What followed was a barrage of social media posts questioning her gender and false rumours of the Algerian boxer being transgender.
Taking to Instagram, Strictly Come Dancing judge Motsi slammed the conversation as “disgusting,” while hitting out at “small-minded” and “misogynistic” people.
In a series of messages posted to her story, Motsi shared her thoughts on the row and fumed: “Racism and transphobia will never end but we call it out!!!!!”
Another post read: “Khelif and Lin [Yu-ting] are two-time Olympians who fought in the Tokyo Games with no controversy. Lin has been an elite-level amateur boxer for a decade and Khelif for six years.
“They were allowed to compete in Paris by the IOC task force, which has run the past two Olympic boxing tournaments. The IOC on Thursday defended their right to compete.”
She continued: “Olympic boxing reached gender parity for the first time this year, with 124 men and 124 women competing in Paris.”
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In additional posts, Motsi fumed: “The discussion is absolutely disgusting. She has been boxing in competitions for a while. She has also lost matches. She was born as a girl.
“The Algerian Olympic Committee issued a statement Wednesday condemning what it termed 'lies' and ‘unethical’ targeting and maligning of our esteemed athlete, Imane Khelif, with baseless propaganda from certain foreign media outlets.”
Further defending Imane, Motsi went on to make comparisons and noted that “banning females with naturally high levels of testosterone is like banning basketball players for being too tall!”
Another saw the dancer reference Black athletes Serena Williams and middle-distance runner Caster Semenya, stating they were both “accused of being a man when outperforming a white female,” with Motsi adding: “Take what you want from this.”
