PARIS: France has launched a cyberbullying probe following a complaint by Algerian Olympic boxing champion Imane Khelif, who was at the center of a gender controversy at the Paris Olympic Games, prosecutors said on Wednesday.
The investigation was opened Tuesday into “cyberharrassment” following the high-profile gender row at the Games, the Paris public prosecutor’s office told AFP.
The athlete’s lawyer Nabil Boudi said last week that Khelif, 25, had filed a complaint for online harassment, calling it a “fight for justice.”
“The investigation will determine who was behind this misogynist, racist and sexist campaign, but will also have to concern itself with those who fed the online lynching,” he said at the time.
Khelif won the women’s 66kg final against China’s Yang Liu in a unanimous points decision, having been the focus of intense scrutiny in the French capital during the Olympics.
Together with Taiwan’s Lin Yu-ting, who won the 57kg women’s final, Khelif was disqualified from last year’s world championships after they failed gender eligibility testing.
However they were cleared to compete in Paris, setting the stage for one of the biggest controversies of the Games.
The International Boxing Association’s Russian president Umar Kremlev has targeted both athletes, claiming that Khelif and Lin had undergone “genetic testing that shows that these are men.”
The IBA were responsible for the world championships in 2023 that Lin and Khelif were thrown out of, but the IOC cleared them to box in Paris.
Khelif said she is “a woman like any other.”
“I was born a woman, lived a woman and competed as a woman,” she told reporters about her eligibility.
Russia’s team has been banned from the Paris Olympics over Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.
France launches probe over alleged cyberbullying of Olympic gender-row boxer Khelif
https://arab.news/m2gaf
France launches probe over alleged cyberbullying of Olympic gender-row boxer Khelif
Alonso fears more pain in China with struggling Aston Martin
- Fernando Alonso said Thursday he expects another difficult weekend wrestling with his new Aston Martin at the Chinese Grand Prix after failing to finish the season-opener in Australia
SHANGHAI: Fernando Alonso said Thursday he expects another difficult weekend wrestling with his new Aston Martin at the Chinese Grand Prix after failing to finish the season-opener in Australia.
Silverstone-based Aston Martin endured a horror start after serious issues with their Honda power unit and a lack of spare parts.
Two-time world champion Alonso and teammate Lance Stroll had to endure extreme vibration in the chassis caused by the power unit, which was feared could cause the drivers permanent nerve damage.
“The situation unfortunately didn’t change within four or five days since Melbourne, so it will be a difficult weekend,” Alonso told reporters at the Shanghai International Circuit.
“We’ll limit the laps in one or two sessions as we are short on parts. We need laps, to find the window on the chassis side.
“I’ll be happy if we leave China with a more or less normal practice, more or less normal qualifying.”
The Spaniard could not put a timeframe on when improvements might come.
“What can I do within the team? Work harder, help Honda as much as I can,” said Alonso.
“We can allocate resources to help Honda with the power unit. We are one team, it is a bumpy start that I hope won’t last too long.
“We are pushing, we have very talented people in the team, so I hope within a couple of grands prix, we can have a normal weekend.
“To be competitive will take more time. Once we fix the reliability, we will be behind on power and things.”
The 44-year-old veteran has been in Formula One for more than two decades and has driven vastly different iterations of cars from the old V10 petrol engines through to the current complex hybrid configuration.
Despite the issues he said was embracing the challenge of the new cars enthusiastically in what could be his final season on the grid.
His Aston Martin contract expires at the end of 2026.
“Do we enjoy driving these cars? Yes, because we love racing,” Alonso said.
“I do four or five 24-hour races because I love racing and I love driving. So if you jump into an F1 car, you enjoy going fast.
“But it is a challenge, a different challenge.
“I was super lucky to race in (the last) era and I feel lucky to race in both.”
