One of the major scandals at the Summer Olympics in Paris centered on women's boxing, where many critics of trans activism drew attention to the participation of two athletes who failed to pass potential gender determination tests last year. Those tests were allegedly conducted by an organization controlled by a Russian businessman with close ties to Putin. Controversy over the scandal has overlapped with debates on trans rights in the West. Critics claim the trans agenda has allowed "biological men" to hit women for entertainment. However, the two targeted sportswomen, Algerian Imane Khelif and Taiwan's Lin Yu-ting, have not changed their sex and there is no reason to consider them trans men or women.
Russian propaganda has played a significant role in amplifying this scandal, with the Algerian sportswoman Imane Khelif the main target. Although she became Olympic champion in the 66 kg category on Friday in a packed Roland-Garros stadium after beating China's Yang Liu in the final, the Algerian athlete's victory is still a topic of discussion among radicalized internet users on the subject of LGBTQ+ rights. And that's because of the massive disinformation campaign led by the Kremlin to further deligitimize the 2024 Paris Olympics (strongly contested by Russian propaganda because of Russia's exclusion).
In the context of an international sports competition such as the Olympic Games, where the emphasis is on performance and fair-play, Russia's intervention was intended to scandalize and divide public opinion by strategically using misinformation and amplification of sensitive issues such as gender identity and fair competition.
Evolution of the scandal
The August 1 semi-final round of the women's Welterweight women's boxing championship ended after just 46 seconds with Imane Khelif of Algeria winning. This after Italian Angela Carini chose not to continue the fight and burst into tears, falling to her knees in the middle of the ring.
"I couldn't continue. I felt a sharp pain in my nose and I decided it was time to stop", said Carini. "It could have been the most important fight of my life, but I had to protect my life, added the pugilist from Italy, sparking further speculation about the fairness of the bout. The next day Carini apologized to Khelif and the public for refusing to shake hands with her opponent after the defeat - a belated conciliatory gesture in a context where the public was already highly polarized on the issue.
The quick victory brought two important topics back to international attention: hyperandrogenism, a rare hormonal disorder that remains a controversial area in performance sport, and corruption among the organizations that regulate amateur boxing globally. The dramatic images of Angela Carini, in tears and kneeling in the ring, made headlines around the world, further fueling discussion on social media. Shortly after, the hashtag #IStandWithAngelaCarini went viral on all social media.
The next day Carini apologized to Khelif and the public for refusing to shake her opponent's hand after the defeat, explaining that the frustration of seeing her Olympic dream shattered so quickly was overwhelming. Her comments, such as "It's not fair" to her coach after the abandonment, sparked reactions at the highest level, including from Italy's Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.
After some publications, including Eurosport.ro, initially suggested that Khelif was transgender, clarifications were made that the athlete did not undergo any sex reassignment surgery and was born female, although she has male chromosomes (XY). Italian fact-checking portal facta.news noted that these claims came from the International Boxing Association (IBA), based on tests whose exact results have not been made public.
The IBA, which lost in 2023 the right to organize boxing competitions at the Olympics due to corruption scandals, has drawn even more attention to these controversies. Although Khelif has not recently commented on the allegations, in a March interview with UNICEF, she spoke about the difficulties she faced as a young athlete in Algeria without mentioning that she is transgender.
The posts on the X platform about the Khelif vs. Carini match have diverted the fact-based discussion onto a false track - men's violence against women (source: X.com)
Predictably, British writer J.K. Rowling, who has become the most vocal critic of trans activism, described the clash as a "new men's movement" and an image where "the grin of a man who knows he is protected by a misogynist sports establishment, enjoying the suffering of a woman he has just kicked in the head and whose life ambition he has just shattered". The organization of the match was also condemned by Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić, former British Prime Minister Liz Truss, Elon Musk as well as numerous columnists and politicians. They chorused accusing the International Olympic Committee (IOC) of endangering women's lives by allowing athletes considered biologically male to participate in women's competitions.
In response, the IOC pointed out that the athletes involved have participated in women's boxing tournaments for many years, including the 2021 Tokyo Olympics. IOC spokesman, Mark Adams, said on Friday that Imane Khelif and Yu-Ting were born women, registered as women, lived their lives as women, boxed as women and are identified as women in their passports as well. Adams added that there is also a scientific consensus on their gender.
The IOC also challenged the validity of the tests that previously led to Khelif's disqualification.
The data in Khelif's passport is important in another respect as well - in Algeria, transgender people are not recognized by the law, and citizens are not allowed to change their gender markings on official documents.
Here's the test, but it's secret
Until 2023, the Algerian pugilist's gender had never been in doubt, plus there was no reason to believe that she would identify or be perceived as anything other than female. The situation changed radically in 2023, when both she and Taiwan's Lin Yu-ting were suspended from the New Delhi World Boxing Championships organized by the International Boxing Association (IBA), an organization run by businessman Umar Kremlev (formerly Lutfulloyev), who is close to the Russian government and financially backed by state energy giant Gazprom.
Khelif was withdrawn from the competition and Lin Yu-ting was stripped of her bronze medal. The problem is that no one knows exactly what kind of test the two athletes failed. Kremlev claimed during the world championships that "the results of DNA tests indicated that some of the athletes tried to deceive their colleagues and pretended to be women", noting that they had XY chromosomes, which biological women do not possess, except in cases of genetic disorders.
Some observers have raised suspicions that the test was not carried out before the championship, but only after Khelif defeated Russian Azalia Amineva in the last eight. Also on August 1, Amineva made an appeal to Italian Angela Carini, expressing her sympathy for her condition and emotions after her fight with Khelif, whom she obviously did not consider a woman. And a few days later, Amineva publicly urges Algerian sportswoman to enter the ring with her "for an answer on behalf of all the girls who have suffered on this road”.
However, Kremlev's statements from the previous year remain the only arguments in favor of the idea that Khelif and Yu-Ting are not biological women, as quoted by the international media. It remains unclear what tests the two athletes underwent.
Umar Lutfulloyev, an ethnic Tajik, changed his surname to Kremlev to wash away the sins of his youth: convictions for extortion in 2004 and violence in 2007 (Source: Telegram)
In 2023, the Algerian press reported that Khelif's disqualification was linked to a high testosterone level. However, a hormone test cannot determine a person's gender with certainty, as testosterone levels can vary due to doping, natural physical peculiarities or other factors.
A central element of the Russian propaganda strategy has been to discredit international institutions, in particular the IOC, and promote the idea that they are corrupt or manipulated by foreign interests. In the case of the IBA, headed by Umar Kremlev, a businessman with strong ties to the Putin regime, the propaganda sought to portray the organization as a bastion of traditional values in the face of so-called Western deviations.
For example, the IBA stated that "the athletes were not tested for testosterone, but were subjected to a separate, recognized test, the details of which were not disclosed". This test showed that the two athletes would not have met the eligibility criteria and had a competitive advantage.
However, the association did not specify exactly what this so-called "recognized test" entails. Meanwhile, Kremlev is actively involved in the scandal. In a video clip shared on Telegram, backed by Orthodox icons, Kremlev criticized the Paris Olympics for promoting "sodomy and the destruction of traditional values", accusing the IOC of allowing "transgender athletes" to participate. He also labeled IOC chief Thomas Bach and his team as "unclean and devils". Through these tactics, Russian propaganda sought to polarize the public and create a climate of distrust and hostility towards international institutions and the values they promote.
The controversy surrounding the Kremlev-led association continues. The IBA organized amateur boxing for nearly a century, but was expelled by the IOC in 2019 after several corruption scandals and dubious funding. The scandals involved bribery and matches at the London 2012 and Rio 2016 Olympics. In 2020, Umar Kremlev was elected president of the IBA, promising to cover the organization's debts but without clarifying the source of its funds. At the same time, Kremlev, with close connections to Russia's Federal Security Service and other Russian officials, caught by reporters even standing next to Putin at public events, failed to repair relations with the IOC and ignored recommendations to ban Russian and Belarusian athletes from competing under their national flags after the invasion of Ukraine. Despite promises of reform, the IBA canceled new leadership elections in 2022, allowing Kremlev to continue his tenure on the Putin model.
Russian propaganda thus took advantage of the situation to fuel a wider narrative aimed at degrading Western values and destroying social cohesion in democratic states. In this case, sport has become a battleground for culture wars, and the Kremlin has used this scandal to directly and indirectly attack Western-promoted values such as inclusiveness and diversity.
Z-propaganda network
In parallel, Russian propaganda has also exploited sensitivities around gender identity, already a controversial topic in many Western countries. By amplifying fears and prejudices related to transgender participation in sports competitions (artificially contextualized case), Russia (through its pro-war Z-propaganda channels) has sought to fuel social divisions and weaken national unity in Western countries. These actions are part of a broader military strategy of information warfare aimed at destabilizing adversaries by manipulating public perceptions and creating internal conflicts.
Z-propaganda's involvement in this scandal highlights how Russia uses sport not only as a soft power tool, but also as a means of influencing public opinion and undermining stability in democratic states. Disinformation and manipulation of information have become the Kremlin's weapons of choice in this new form of hybrid warfare, and the Imane Khelif scandal is just one example of a wider series of actions aimed at undermining Western cohesion and values.
Quantitative-qualitative analysis of Kremlin-affiliated channels using the Hamilton 2.0 Dashboard monitoring platform reveals a coordinated online network for distributing narratives about Algerian sportswoman Imane Khelif, a competitor at the 2024 Paris Olympics. The network included platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, news websites (alternative media) and Telegram channels in Russian. Network monitoring period: August 1-8, 2024. The database in Excel format is available HERE.
To further develop the analysis of the Z-propaganda network involved in the distribution of narratives about Iman Khelif, I will further explore the mechanisms of dissemination, the actors involved, the specific tactics employed, and the overall impact on public perception.
The main platforms used by the Kremlin for distributing disinformation narratives were Facebook and Instagram (Meta group) used for rapid spreading of messages due to their popularity and ability to reach a wide audience. Official and unofficial accounts, directly or indirectly managed by Kremlin-affiliated entities, were the main sources of these narratives. For example, RT accounts available in multiple languages (including English, Arabic and Spanish) on Facebook and Instagram played a key role in the creation and distribution of content, often in the form of news, reports and opinions, which were subsequently redistributed by users and managed to achieve impact coefficients of 15,766 (Facebook) and 8,730 (Instagram).
You can see an almost parallel distribution of Likes accumulated by RT channels on Facebook and Instagram on August 2 and 3, 2024 (source: Hamilton 2.0 Dashboard)
Similar to RT, Sputnik was used to amplify narratives, with a strategy of posting frequently and in multiple languages to reach diverse global audiences.
The media networks of the RT and Sputnik websites (minus TASS) functioned as primary sources of information, which was then redistributed on social networks such as Facebook, Instagram, X and Telegram. Thus, a circular distribution ecosystem was created that increased the visibility of disinformation narratives.
Similar to RT, Sputnik has been used to amplify narratives, with a strategy of posting frequently and in multiple languages (Turkish, Serbian, Chinese, Arabic, English) to reach diverse global audiences (source: Hamilton 2.0 Dashboard).
Instead, Russian Telegram has been used more for pro-Kremlin propagandists to distribute much more controversial, blunt, and even extremist narratives, protected by the platform's anonymity and lack of censorship.
Calculating the frequency of postings, we can see that Z-propaganda had been quite active only in the first 3 days after Khelif versus Carini's match, following a downward slope (according to the data processed from Telegram).
The most effective Z-channels in spreading Russian propaganda about Khelif's boxing match were 360.ro and Z| MEMES. These channels were effective in mobilizing an engaged audience, using formats such as memes and short but emotionally powerful messages to attract attention and encourage rapid distribution of the content by Russian-speaking audiences.
Telegram channel Z| Z| MEMES is calling Imane Khelif transgender, criticizing the Olympic Games in general (source Telegram).
The Z-propaganda messages on Telegram, through the voice of propagandist Soloviov, were constructed to explore and amplify controversies about sex and gender identity, using well-known public figures such as J.K. Rowling. These messages were presented to Russian-speaking audiences in such a way as to trigger a strong emotional reaction from the audience, and were often phrased in a polarizing way.
Soloviov quotes writer J.K. Rowling's response to critics in the context of her public stance against the trans movement (source: Telegram).
Similarly, Facebook and Instagram posts also promoted J.K. Rowling's statements, describing the situation as "a spectacle in which a man beats a woman for the amusement of the audience". These posts were amplified through comments and shares, further increasing the visibility of the anti-LGBTQ+ narrative.
Semiotic analysis of the texts used in the postings of these channels were able to highlight specific Russian propaganda labels towards people from the LGBTQ+ community (considered ideology (sic! ) extremist and banned in Russia), now used against the two sportswomen: "Algerian boxer", "another trans from Taiwan", "man", "Taiwanese transformer", "Algerian intersex", "Imane is a man, or rather a transgender", "giant Arab", "abomination", "Taiwanese cunning", "transformers" (a term Putin himself launched at a press conference), "sportswomen with a male set of chromosomes", "transgender boxer", "two former men". The emotional content of these epithets ranges from disgust and revulsion to vindictive hatred.
Mesajele din postări au fost construite pentru a explora și amplifica controversele privind sexul și identitatea de gen, folosindu-se de figuri publice cunoscute precum J.K. Rowling. Aceste mesaje au fost prezentate astfel încât să declanșeze o reacție emoțională puternică din partea publicului, fiind adesea formulate într-un mod maniheist.
360.ru: "How do you like this Olympic twist?
: failed at men's boxing? Tell the IOC you're a woman, they'll take it and you'll become champion
: The Paris Olympics are just a disgrace
: I love it. When will you see so many freaks?" (Source: Telegram)
Thus, Facebook and Instagram posts promoted writer J.K. Rowling's statements, describing the situation as "a spectacle in which a man beats a woman for the amusement of the audience." These posts were amplified by comments and shares against an emotional backdrop, increasing the visibility of the narrative.
Z-propaganda channels on Telegram utilized narratives that questioned the legitimacy of the IOC, suggesting that it would be dangerous for female athletes and that it would allow "biologically male athletes" such as Khelif to participate. All of these propaganda channels have fueled an international debate over the IOC's inclusive policies, contributing to rising tensions between supporters and critics of trans activism.
Among amplification strategies, we can distinguish repetition and cross-distribution. Thus, propagandistic narratives were constantly repeated on various platforms and channels, ensuring that the same ideas were being peddled in multiple places simultaneously. Social media posts were synchronized with website articles and Telegram messages to maximize coverage and impact. For example, articles published by RT and Sputnik were immediately redistributed on Facebook and Telegram, amplifying their effect by exposing multiple audiences to the same narrative.
Yulia Viteazeva: "God, what a blessing that this feast of madness is taking place without us!
" (Source: Telegram)
Both fake accounts and trolling techniques were also used to influence online discussions and amplify key messages. These accounts were active in commenting, retweeting and creating additional content to keep the topic in the public eye. During online disputes over the Khelif versus Carini match, suspect accounts frequently intervened to criticize the IOC, supporting the anti-transgender narrative, ensuring the escalation of discussions and polarizing audiences throughout the eight days monitored.
More broadly, Z-propaganda sought not only to deligitimize the IOC, but also the entire organizational skeleton of the Paris 2024 Olympics, branded as a "celebration of madness", a "Satanist demonstration" and a "disgrace".
Conclusions
The scandal in women's boxing at the 2024 Paris Olympics, centered on the participation of athletes Imane Khelif and Lin Yu-ting, has been greatly amplified by the pro-Kremlin propaganda network. The controversy was amplified and used by Russia as a strategic tool to undermine Western values and destabilize international public opinion. Although the allegations of gender reassignment and fair-play in relation to the two sportswomen were quickly refuted, the context and amplification of these allegations were orchestrated with the aim of influencing global perceptions of the Paris Olympics.
Propaganda rusă a exploatat temele sensibile legate de identitatea de gen, infiltrându-se în dezbaterile deja polarizate din Occident. Utilizând tactici de dezinformare, manipulare și amplificare emoțională, Kremlinul a creat un climat de neîncredere și ostilitate față de organizațiile internaționale și valorile promovate de acestea, inclusiv incluziunea și diversitatea. Mesajele dezinformatoare au fost diseminate printr-o rețea complexă de canale media și social media, în special prin RT și Sputnik (mass-media pro-Kremlin), dar și prin canale mai controversate de pe Telegram (Z-propaganda).
In particular, the case of Imane Khelif has become an emblematic example of how sport can be turned into a terrain of information warfare. The scandal has been used to undermine the credibility of international institutions such as the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and to promote a narrative that denigrates democratic and liberal values. The manipulation of public opinion through these tactics not only jeopardizes the integrity of sporting competitions, but also contributes to the amplification of existing social and cultural divisions in democratic societies.
Finally, the scandal in women's boxing at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games underlines the importance of accurate reporting and critical assessment of information sources. In an increasingly complex and polarized information climate, it is essential to recognize and combat disinformation tactics aimed at undermining social cohesion and the fundamental values of democracy.
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Dr. Nicolae Tibrigan, expert coordinator <Digital Forensic TeamZ
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