Donald Trump insisted on calling women’s Olympic gold medal boxer Imane Khelif a man during an interview with WWE legend The Undertaker.
Khelif, who won gold in the women’s welterweight category at the Paris Olympics this summer, was allowed to compete at the Games despite being banned from the 2023 World Boxing Championships for allegedly failing gender eligibility tests.
Although the 25-year-old Algerian was born female and has had her father show her birth certificate as proof of her gender as a woman, her success sparked fierce controversy and backlash both during and after the Olympic Games.
Trump, who appeared on the The Undertaker’s eagerly-anticipated podcast ‘Six Feet Under’ on Monday, continually referred to Khelif as a ‘man’ after the wrestling star urged that ‘protecting’ women’s sports from transgender athletes was a huge priority for him during the upcoming United States presidential election.
The Undertaker, whose real name is Mark Calaway, brought his daughter on to the podcast in an effort to show how young women are being affected by the heavily-debated issue.
Undertaker says “protecting” women’s sports from trans people is a huge priority for him this election and brings his young daughter out to show why.
Trump/Taker then talk about the Olympic boxing drama as the former president repeatedly refers to Imane Khelif as a man. pic.twitter.com/f8PUYdxV5x
— Ryan Satin (@ryansatin)
October 21, 2024
‘I think it’s very demeaning to women,’ Trump said before pointing to The Undertaker’s daughter. ‘She wants to play sports and she wants to play against women. You don’t necessarily want to play against men. It’s okay but you don’t want to do it.
‘Did you see that boxing match at the Olympics? Did you see that beautiful Italian girl? She’s supposed to be a good boxer. She took just a left jab. The guy goes (Trump throws a punch) boom. Like a defensive punch.
‘I never saw something quite like that. She doesn’t go down, she walked back to her corner and said, “I just got hit harder than I’ve ever been hit before”. Her corner pushes her back out, “You can do it, you can do it”. He goes with another left jab and she walks off, “There’s no way I can win”.’
Trump continued to double down on the inaccurate claim by detailing how ‘two people who transitioned into women’ fought in the female category at the Olympics, which was described by The Undertaker as ‘shocking’ and ‘ridiculous’.
The pair then joked at the prospect of The Undertaker transitioning and wrestling as a woman.
In September, Khelif took an emotional swipe at American billionaire Elon Musk, who is an avid supporter of Trump ahead of the presidential election, for leading a ‘cruel campaign’ against her during the Olympics.
The X tycoon, who along with the former US president has been named in a cyberbullying lawsuit filed by Khelif, quoted a post on his own platform which called for men to be thrown out of women’s sports in light of her round of 16 victory over Italy’s Angela Carini, the opponent to which Trump was referring during the podcast.
Despite the furore surrounding her success at the Olympics, Khelif is now set to take the next step in her burgeoning career by turning professional.
Speaking on Sunday, she said: ‘I would like to hold a press conference today to share with you my success story with the media family and young women who watch me.
‘There is a documentary being prepared about my success story and it will be shown on international platforms.
‘I will soon enter the world of professional boxing, I have many offers.
‘Currently, I have not made up my mind about where I will enter professional boxing.
‘But very soon I will take this step, we as Algerians would like to see our level in the field of professionalism.’