What pronouns does Imane Khelif use publicly and in interviews?
Executive summary
Imane Khelif publicly presents and is documented as female and has been referred to and cleared to compete in women's boxing under female-designated eligibility rules, which in reporting and advocacy statements has translated into use of she/her pronouns in public discourse about her [1] [2] [3]. Available reporting contains no substantive evidence that Khelif uses alternate pronouns for herself in interviews or on official documents; she is described in the record as assigned female at birth and identified as female on her paperwork [2] [3].
1. Public documentation and media framing: she/her in official and mainstream reporting
Major summaries and profiles of Khelif identify her as a woman and treat her with she/her language: her Wikipedia entry presents her as an Algerian woman and Olympic gold medallist in the women’s welterweight competition [1], while outlets reporting on the broader controversy and eligibility disputes consistently describe her as a woman eligible to compete in women’s divisions under Olympic guidance [2] [4]. Advocacy organizations cited in fact-checks and guidance—such as GLAAD and interACT—have explicitly stated Khelif is a cisgender woman, a characterization that in practice aligns with she/her pronouns in public reporting [4] [3].
2. Interviews and statements: identification on documents and willingness to comply with testing, not a pronoun manifesto
In interviews covered by mainstream outlets, reporting records Khelif as identifying on official documents as female and being assigned female at birth, and notes her public statements about cooperating with eligibility processes and medical oversight—none of which include a declaration of alternative pronouns or self-description that would contradict she/her usage [2]. For example, The Athletic and CNN coverage reports her identification on paperwork and her expressed willingness to undergo sex verification testing to resolve federation disputes, again framed using she/her in the reporting [2] [5].
3. What opponents and conspirators did — and did not — change about pronoun use
Opponents and certain right-leaning commentators seized on medical or administrative disputes to label Khelif with male pronouns and assertions; Slate documents that anti-trans activists and some media outlets referred to Khelif with he/him language despite public accounts indicating she is not transgender [6]. Those uses are part of a campaign to delegitimize her participation rather than an authoritative record of her personal pronoun choice; the same reporting stresses that such labeling derived from political messaging and the IBA’s controversial statements rather than from Khelif’s own self-identification [6].
4. Medical reports, leaks and contested claims do not equal a pronoun change in her speech
Leaked medical reports and some international outlets published contested clinical detail about Khelif’s biology [7], and the International Boxing Association’s past statements alleged “competitive advantages” without establishing a public change in how Khelif refers to herself. Reporting makes clear that these documents fueled debate and misinformation but do not provide evidence that Khelif uses pronouns other than she/her in interviews or on official forms; advocacy groups warn against conflating DSD claims with transgender identity, and they continue to identify her as a woman [3] [6].
5. Limits of available reporting and the honest bottom line
None of the provided sources contains a direct quote from Khelif in which she states “my pronouns are…” so certainty about an explicit, self-declared pronoun statement is limited by the record examined here; what is documented is consistent public and official identification as female, and mainstream reporting and advocacy organizations have treated her with she/her pronouns [2] [3] [1]. If future reporting includes a direct, self-stated pronoun line from Khelif, that primary-source text would supersede third-party descriptions; until then, the authoritative evidence in available coverage supports that she is publicly presented and referred to with she/her pronouns.