Olympic boxing champion Iman Helif of Algeria has filed a lawsuit in France for online harassment, after numerous criticisms and false claims about her gender during the Paris Olympics, her lawyer said.
Heliffe won Olympic gold in the welterweight division on Friday, after two weeks of public interest in her, as well as Taiwanese boxer Lin Yu Ting, and criticism that the two should not be competing in the women's competition.
The complaint was filed on Friday with the special unit of the Paris prosecutor's office to combat online hate speech and serious cyber harassment targeting Helif, said lawyer Nabil Boudi.
In a statement, he described it as a "misogynistic, racist and sexist campaign" against the female boxer.
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It is now up to prosecutors to decide whether to open an investigation. As is customary in French law, the complaint does not name the alleged perpetrator, leaving it up to investigators to determine who might be guilty.
After Helif's first fight at the Olympic tournament, when the Italian Anđela Karini submitted the fight to her after 46 seconds, there were claims on social media that Helif is transgender or that she is a man, which was rejected and condemned by the International Olympic Committee.
Helif said that such misconceptions about her "harm human dignity."
Helif and Lin were disqualified from the World Championships in India last year, after the International Boxing Federation said their gender results were indeterminate but failed to provide documentation.
They received support from Taiwan and Algeria, and former US President Donald Trump and writer JK Rowling joined criticism and claims that they are men or transgender people.
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