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2024 Olympics: “Imane Khelif was devastated to suddenly discover that she might not be a girl!”
EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW.
The Algerian boxer, buffeted by a controversy over her gender, trained for months with the Games in her sights. Confidences from her trainer.
By Beatrice Parrino
Published on 08/09/2024 at 11:35 p.m., updated on 08/10/2024 at 6:14 p.m.
Algerian Imane Khelif stepped into the ring for her final match of the Paris Olympics on Friday, August 9, and won the gold medal in the under 66 kilos category. Unknown to the general public until the tournament opened, she had all eyes on her, buffeted by a controversy over her gender.
To get to these Olympic Games, the boxer licensed in Nice relied on a group of experts based in Algeria, the United States, and also in France. Le Point reached one of them by telephone, Georges Cazorla, who concocted the program for her physical preparation for these Games. In the past, he has given his advice to several sports federations and leading clubs.
Le Point: You participated in the preparation of Algerian boxer Imane Khelif for these Olympic Games. How did your paths cross?
Georges Cazorla: I taught biology applied to physical activity and sport at the University of Bordeaux. In this context, I supervised the master's thesis of Imane Khelif's manager, Nasser Yefsah, who manages her career. It was on boxing. He lived – and still lives – in Nice, and regularly travelled back and forth to Bordeaux to take my classes. At the end of 2022, Nasser contacted me to offer me the chance to help Imane Khelif prepare for the World Championships, the African Championships and the Olympic Games. So I came out of retirement a bit! I didn't know Imane.
And you didn't know much about boxing either!
Indeed. But I've been involved in the sport for a very long time. I analyzed fights: the number of blows given, received, movements, etc. At the same time, I also relied on a Fourier transform infrared spectrometry technique developed by one of my former doctoral students: it allows the analysis of 19 parameters (such as certain carbohydrates, lactate, certain amino acids, urea, total proteins, but also certain inflammatory parameters such as CRP and parameters indicating the level of training: immunoglobulins), and this, from the collection of three drops of blood. This gave us valuable information on Imane's physical and physiological state and abilities. We began to build a rigorous program with her manager aimed at making her progress optimally. Be careful, she was not bad before meeting me! In Algeria, Imane had already reached a good level of boxing, but, due to the lack of equipment designed for high level, Imane's training was based on pragmatic and intuitive approaches. Now, these are more scientifically structured.
With Imane Khelif, you continued your tests in Paris.
In a center in the 13th arrondissement, Monstade, we subjected her to a battery of more or less sophisticated performance tests. From there, we developed a preparation formula, which we called "FAITPAS". Here are the ingredients:
- F for frequency: how many times she should train per day, per week.
- A for assiduity: that is to say, planning for breaks without it harming the general orientation.
- I for intensity: we worked a lot on this aspect, with heart rate, blood levels, physical and psychological approaches, the interaction of aerobic-anaerobic work on the energy level to better approach the three rounds. At the same time, Imane worked on bodybuilding, which focused on speed and explosiveness. Some of your uninitiated colleagues have written that boxing is based on strength and power. No, amateur boxing is about hitting targets on an individual. It's about technical skill.
- T for time: how much time should be devoted to each exercise to be highly effective.
- P for progressiveness: how to progress towards the world championships and then the Arab championships, then the Olympic Games, by alternating work and recovery.
- A for alternating exercise and recovery.
- S for specificity: trying to adopt a strategy based on the abilities of Imane and the opponent.
We applied this principle. I think it was quite successful.
So you have already met Imane Khelif several times.
Yes, absolutely. She has often come to France to participate in training courses or tests. Between September 2023 and April 2024, she was licensed in Tarbes, in a club created by a former national technical director of Algeria, Karim Aiouaz, with a good technical-medical center; since May, she has been in Nice, in the same club as her manager, renowned in the Côte d'Azur boxing community. I have never been to Algeria as part of this preparation. It was her manager who was the one who commuted. I also did not see Imane Khelif during her last training course in Vittel in mid-July, supervised by her American-Cuban coach, on whom she has been totally dependent for a few weeks. Her historic coach, Mohamed Chaoua, is also accompanying her to Paris during these Olympics. Emotional ties have been created between us, even if Imane and her coach still speak very little French. It is very clear that for me Imane is a good girl, an exceptional athlete who deserves all our respect.
You were asked to follow her at the end of 2022. Were you aware of a conflict between the International Boxing Federation (IBA) and Imane Khelif?
I discovered it by following the world championships on video in March 2023. She was disqualified for the final against a Chinese woman. At the time, I assumed that it was a diplomatic or international quarrel… But the decision was based on tests. Frankly, I found it disgusting. Regardless of the results of these biological tests and, without going into detail – that is a matter for biologists and doctors – this poor young girl was devastated, devastated to suddenly discover that she might not be a girl! All the people who liked her, including me, stepped in to cheer her up. The prospect of the Olympic Games allowed everything to be restructured. Fortunately, she can also rely on her family (very modest, whom she helps through boxing), living in a small town in Algeria.
She discovered it at that moment…
Yes, and so did I, even though she has a rather particular body type. The fact remains that people have a particular physical appearance, it is so different inside themselves. For Imane, she was born a girl. She was raised as a girl. She has a girl's sensitivity. On that basis, why wouldn't we test everyone who has superior abilities to others? For example, the immense French basketball player Victor Wembanyama, in terms of his growth hormones? It's stupid. Everyone is different, fortunately, otherwise there would be no competition. Let's put ourselves in a performance perspective: what is competition? It is a subject, a man or a woman, who is superior to others.
Didn't the Algerian team know anything either?
They are 50,000 leagues away from these biological aspects. They were happy to have a good boxer. She is a young woman, I repeat, who was raised as a girl.
What happens after this thunderclap announcement?
After the 2023 World Championships, where she was disqualified, I took the lead by contacting a renowned endocrinologist from the Parisian University Hospital, Kremlin-Bicêtre, who examined her. He confirmed that Imane is indeed a woman, despite her karyotype and her testosterone level. He said: "There is a problem with her hormones, with her chromosomes, but she is a woman." That's all that mattered to us. We then worked with a doctor based in Algeria to monitor and regulate Imane's testosterone level, which is currently within the female norm. Tests clearly show that all her muscular and other qualities have been diminishing since then. Currently, she can be compared on a muscular and biological level to a woman-woman-woman.
Regarding this rate, did you follow a recommendation from the International Olympic Committee?
I was so disappointed to see her stupidly disqualified at the world championships in New Delhi that I wanted to take the lead. But in hindsight, I wonder if I was wrong to get involved in this… The Olympic Games medical commission had made a lot of publicity around the training of its samplers to judge, among other things, the testosterone level of the athletes competing in the Games. So I wanted us to put all the chances on her side, and for her level to be within the limits.
Some say that XY profiles display a physical, muscular superiority over XX.
It is said that everyone must play sports. Everyone, except these people? Some say that we should make special categories, but even within a group of hypoandrogenic or hyperandrogenic people, there are differences between them. There is such a significant variation that we cannot create categories.
I ask the same question to the biology teacher that you are…
Between boys and girls, it is at puberty, in terms of performance, that there is a dissociation linked to testosterone. Testosterone is an anabolic hormone and therefore one that builds muscles. This explains why boys are stronger than girls in terms of muscle. My answer is hesitant, because some women display a muscular quality close to that of men. And performance is the interaction of multiple components, including physical aspects. In some sports, physical aspects play an important role in performance. You will never see any skinny boxers, whether they are men or women.
Did you watch the IBA press conference that was held during the Olympics?
No, I didn't want to rekindle my anger. There are a lot of things that could be said about the IBA. Its head is a strange bird. He doesn't want the IOC to get involved in boxing... All I know is that the IBA ended up justifying itself after the fact. If they had warned us before the 2023 World Championships, we would have been vigilant. They made Imane eligible for her first three matches, then ineligible for the final. They sent her a letter in English when she can't read that language, asking her to sign it to get her results. She should never have signed that letter.
What does that imply?
That she acknowledged the disqualification... Everything was spun in a funny way in New Delhi during these World Championships.
What are these IBA results about? A karyotype? Testosterone levels?
From what I have read, during its recent press conference, the IBA did not wish to go into detail or reveal the nature of the tests carried out, so it is better to stick to the IOC's position, which confirmed the eligibility of Imane as well as that of the Taiwanese also disqualified by the IBA in New Delhi in March 2023.