Piers Morgan has been forced to delete a social media post he put up shortly after Imane Khelif won Olympic gold in the final of the women’s 66kg contest in Paris on Friday night.
The Algerian, who has been at the centre of a gender row which has dominated this summer’s Games, stormed to victory after dismantling China’s Yang Liu at a packed Roland Garros to cap off a controversial march to first place in which she did not lose a single round.
The most eagerly anticipated fight of the Games turned into another mismatch, with the 25-year-old rocking her opponent on multiple occasions in front of a delighted crowd.
Khelif, the heavy pre-fight favourite with odds of 1/8, won every round with every judge and raised her arm in a mock military salute before being carried around the ring on the shoulders of her ecstatic coach.
And the outspoken Morgan decided to weigh in on the ongoing saga with a misguided post to X, formerly Twitter, in the wake of the bout, the Mirror reports.
Piers Morgan has been forced to delete a social media post he put up shortly after Imane Khelif won Olympic gold
Gender row boxer Imane Khelif stormed to Olympic gold in Paris on Friday night
The outspoken Morgan decided to weigh in on the ongoing saga with a misguided post to X
The broadcaster said: ‘A biological male just beat a biological male to win an Olympic gold medal in a women’s competition.
‘Congrats to everyone who supported this travesty.’
In declaring Khelif a ‘biological male’, Morgan evoked the language of the Russia-dominated International Boxing Association who used the term to describe the Algerian after banning her from the World Championships over an alleged ‘failed gender test’.
It is not clear why the Piers Morgan Uncensored host described Liu as a ‘biological male’ but it is possible he confused her with Lin Yu-Ting, who has also been at the centre of the controversy.
The 59-year-old then put up a replacement post, which said: ‘BREAKING: A biological male just won an Olympic Gold medal in a women’s boxing competition.
‘Congrats to everyone who supported this travesty.’
When faced with criticism over his post from several social media users, Morgan wrote: ‘Imane was banned from the World Championships after testing positive for male XY chromosomes. She didn’t appeal it. If she’s a biological woman, she should take another test now and prove it. Spoiler alert: she won’t’
The Taiwanese boxer was also banned from the Worlds for the same alleged reason but fights in a different weight class.
The most eagerly anticipated fight of the Games turned into another mismatch, with the 25-year-old rocking her opponent on multiple occasions in front of a delighted crowd
The Algerian dismantled China’s Yang Liu in the welterweight final at a packed Roland Garros to cap a controversial march to first place in which she did not lose a single round
The biological female has found herself embroiled in a fierce dispute this summer
Many have questioned whether Khelif should have been permitted to fight in the women’s competition in Paris, where eligibility rules are less strict than in the Worlds. Another stroll, this time to gold, will have done little to silence those calls.
The IBA was stripped of its right to run the Olympic competition amid a war with Games bosses the International Olympic Committee (IOC). As a result, there are no gender or testosterone exams in Paris and the category is open to those who have ‘female’ in their passport.
Khelif, who roared ‘I am a woman’ after cruising to quarter-final victory, has been the subject of a wave of online abuse.
She came out with purpose. Another combination of her rangy left jab and explosive right hand posed too many questions for her powerless opponent who was plucky, but outclassed.
On Friday Olympics chief Thomas Bach again defended the right of both to box here but added that he would be the first to adopt an agreed ‘scientifically solid system’.
‘This system is working and so therefore our decision is clear,’ he said. ‘Women should be allowed to take part in women’s competitions and the two are women.’
The IOC, which is overseeing boxing at the Paris 2024 Games but did not organise the World Championships, said that Khelif was disqualified in India due to elevated testosterone levels.
However, after receiving a bye in the first round at the Olympics, Khelif—who also competed in the Tokyo Games—faced criticism following her bout with Italian boxer Angela Carini.
Khelif, the heavy pre-fight favourite, won every round with every judge tonight and raised her arm in a mock military salute before being carried around the ring on her coach’s shoulders
Khelif secured a victory via unanimous decision over Janjaem Suwannapheng of Thailand
Khelif (right) progressed to the final of the women’s 66kg boxing event on Tuesday
Within the first 30 seconds of their clash, Carini was hit in the face and went to her corner to have her headgear adjusted by her coach, with reports stating she had broken her nose.
Although she briefly continued, Carini barely threw a punch before telling her corner ‘it’s not fair’ and then abandoning the match ‘for her own safety’ – instantly dropping to her knees and crying.
The commotion surrounding Khelif’s participation in the Games continued into her second-round match against Hungary’s Luca Anna Hamori.
The Algerian welterweight scored a unanimous victory over her opponent to secure a place in the Paris 2024 semi-finals.
This time, the tears were Khelif’s after a dominant performance which saw her cheered on by hundreds of noisy Algerians and later congratulated by the country’s president who said she had ‘honoured Algeria, Algerian women and Algerian boxing’.
Khelif shouted in Arabic, with Algerian reporters translating that she had said ‘I want to tell the entire world that I am a woman and I will remain a woman.’
As she headed to the dressing room. She later expressed her thanks to the IOC ‘who spoke the truth’. ‘Thanks to God this is the first women’s medal for boxing in Algeria,’ Khelif added. ‘I can say to the Algerian people that I won a medal for Algeria and Arabs.’
A few days later, she was seen exploding with joy after reaching the Olympic final in the women’s 66kg boxing event thanks to another dominant display in the ring.
The 25-year-old overcame Thailand’s Janjaem Suwannapheng by a unanimous decision to set up a gold medal fight against Yang Liu of China.
Once her victory was confirmed over the loudspeaker, Khelif began celebrating by waving the index finger on her left hand.
She then briefly paused her celebrations to allow her opponent – now a confirmed bronze medalist – a moment to lap up applause from the crowd.
Once Suwannapheng had left the ring, Khelif returned to centre stage and began running on the spot with high knees, while spinning around and appeared to shout something.
The crowd around the Phillippe-Chatrier Court was full of Algerian supporters and SOHO303 flags
Italian boxer Angela Carini revealed she wanted to apologise to her opponent Khelif
Carini withdrew from the bout within 46 seconds and was left in tears following her defeat
Lin Yu-Ting of Taiwan was disqualified alongside Khelif at the World Championships, but she has also been permitted to compete in Paris and won her opening bout on Friday
Later in the evening, Khelif said that she did not care about the controversy swirling over her inclusion in the women’s 66kg boxing category.
Having avoided the huge media scrum after her previous bouts, Khelif broke her silence to maintain: ‘I don’t care what anyone is saying about me with the controversy.
‘All that is important to me is that I stay on the level and give my people the performance they deserve. I know I’m a talented person and this is a gift to all Algerians.’
Khelif’s participation at the Games has been met with widespread controversy with the Algerian previously being disqualified for failing gender eligibility tests.
Although several people, such as Morgan, have alleged that Khelif wasn’t born a female, no such claim has been proved.
