Despite outcries from anti-trans celebrities and politicians, the International Olympic Committee confirmed Imane Khelif is eligible to compete in women’s boxing at the Paris Games.

Khelif went viral on social media after winning her opening bout Thursday against Italy’s Angela Carini, who stopped fighting after 46 seconds. Khelif, along with Taiwanese boxer Lin Yu-ting, were both disqualified from their championships in 2023 after the International Boxing Association said they failed gender eligibility testing, a move that the IOC has called a “sudden and arbitrary decision.”

The two boxers also competed in the 2021 Tokyo Games, but did not medal.

“The IOC is committed to protecting the human rights of all athletes participating in the Olympic Games,” the organization said in a statement. “The IOC is saddened by the abuse that the two athletes are currently receiving.”

Fact check: Imane Khelif is a woman

Khelif is a woman, who is not transgender, nor identifies as intersex, according to GLAAD and InterACT.

Khelif reportedly has differences of sexual development, known as DSDs, the organizations said in a Fact Sheet released Friday. Having DSD is not the same as being transgender.

What is DSDs?

Differences in sex development is a set of rare conditions involving genes, hormones and reproductive organs that can cause the sexual development of a person to be different than others, according to the NHS.

Sometimes, this can lead to a person having XY chromosomes but develop otherwise female.

Paris Games has full gender parity, IBA stripped of its governing rights

The IBA, long mired with scandal and controversy, oversaw Olympic boxing before being stripped of its right before the Tokyo Games and is no longer recognized of the international federation of boxing.

In the face of backlash over Khelif’s 2024 win, the IBA stood by its decision to disqualify the boxers over two “trustworthy” and “independent” tests, though they did not disclose what the tests were. The Washington Post reported IBA president claimed they were disqualified over finding XY chromosomes.

The IOC said the gender and age for the athletes is based on their passports.

The Paris Games is the first in history to reach gender parity. Transgender inclusion has had no negative effect on gender parity at the Olympics, according to GLAAD and InterACT. Also, IOC guidelines state athletes should not be excluded from competing due to alleged unfair advantage based on sex variations, according to GLAAD.

Conservatives seize on boxing to spread anti-trans rhetoric

As part of a large wave of anti-LGBTQ laws in the U.S., transgender women in sports has become a key rallying call for conservatives. In the last five years, 25 states have passed laws banning transgender students from participating in sports that match their gender identity, according to data compiled by MAP, despite research from the Human Rights Campaign showing transgender youth are a small part of the population and not all of them are interested in playing sports.

Former President Donald Trump jumped on Khelif’s win at the Olympics to further his campaign promise, posting a video of the fight on social media “I WILL KEEP MEN OUT OF WOMEN’S SPORTS!”

Trump’s running mate JD Vance shared a video of the match on X, falsely calling Khelif a man and suggesting Kamala Harris’ stance on gender leads to a “disgusting,” outcome.

“From my point of view, this was not an equal competition,” conservative Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said, according to POLITICO.

Khelif told UNICEF earlier this year that she was picked-on for participating in sports as a girl growing up, and had to raise money for her boxing lessons as her father did not approve of her getting into the sport, because she is a girl.

“I started with nothing and now I have everything,” she said.