Imane Khelif aims to return to the Olympic Games and win a second gold medal in Los Angeles.

The 25-year-old Algerian boxer won gold last year at the Paris Olympics while being the subject of a contentious gender eligibility row.

She wants to compete in her third Games in 2028, even after United States President Donald Trump wrongly claimed she had transitioned from a man.

Speaking to ITV News in an interview to be broadcast on Wednesday evening, Khelif said: “I will give you a straightforward answer: the US President issued a decision related to transgender policies in America. I am not transgender. This does not concern me, and it does not intimidate me. That is my response.”

That came after Khelif interrupted a question about her dream of repeating her triumph, saying: “Second gold medal, of course. In America, Los Angeles.”

International boxing’s disgraced governing body, the IBA, has been expelled from the Olympic movement and boxing was at risk of being eliminated from the Games altogether. But the International Olympic Committee (IOC) has recognised new organisation World Boxing, which has replaced the IBA, and the IOC is set to vote to confirm readmitting the sport to LA 2028.

It means competing in the Olympics will be an option, though all boxers, including former champions, must qualify.

Khelif’s triumph in Paris, along with that of Chinese Taipei’s Lin Yu Ting, sparked a gender eligibility debate that high-profile figures such as President Trump, Elon Musk and JK Rowling fuelled.

Khelif revealed she was “deeply affected mentally” by the “major media campaign” surrounding her, and said her mother was attending hospital almost daily as her family shared the brunt of the attacks.

The furore followed an IOC decision to dismiss the blood tests which had prompted the now-discredited IBA to disqualify Khelif from the World Championships in 2023.

She said: “As we say in Algeria, those who have nothing to hide should have no fear. The truth became clear at the Paris Olympics – the injustice was exposed and later, the truth was acknowledged by the Olympic Committee in Paris.”

She added: “For me, I see myself as a girl, just like any other girl. I was born a girl, raised as a girl, and have lived my entire life as one.

“I have competed in many tournaments, including the Tokyo Olympics and other major competitions, as well as four World Championships. All of these took place before I started winning and earning titles. But once I began achieving success, the campaigns against me started.”

IBA campaign ‘fake news’

IOC president Thomas Bach recently criticised the IBA, which is headed by Russian businessman Umar Kremlev, for stirring up controversy around Khelif.

“I would not consider this [Paris Games gender row] a real crisis because all this discussion is based on a fake news campaign coming from Russia,” Bach told Reuters. “This was part of the many, many fake news campaigns we had to face from Russia before Paris and after Paris.

“[The dispute] has nothing to do with the reality. These two female focuses were born as women, they were raised as women, they have been competing as women, they have been winning and losing as every other person.”