Former ESPN personality Charly Arnolt has taken a furious swipe at the Associated Press reporters who chose controversial Olympics boxer Imane Khelif as their Female Athlete of the Year.
Four AP journalists and members sparked outrage this week after giving Khelif – whose gender was the subject of fierce controversy in Paris – third place in the voting for their award behind Caitlin Clark and Simone Biles.
The Algerian took gold in the women’s welterweight competition despite calls for her to be barred from fighting female opponents almost a year after she was thrown out of the World Championships for allegedly failing gender eligibility tests.
And a few months after her gold-medal win, a shock report emerged claiming Khelif is in fact a ‘biological male’ – although it remains unclear if the report is genuine or not.
Regardless, AP reporters voting her as one of their top three female athletes for 2024 has caused quite a stir, with Arnolt one of many left bemused by the four unnamed reporters who did so.
‘How in the world are there four AP journalists, who make it their bread and butter covering sports, who decided that this person deserved to be the athlete of the year?’ the 37-year-old asked on OutKick’s ‘The Morning’ show.
Charly Arnolt has hit out at reporters who chose Imane Khelif for Female Athlete of the Year
Four unnamed AP journalists picked the controversial Olympics boxer for the female honor
‘I mean, does it make any sense? This is a person we don’t even truly know at the end of the day what their biological gender is.
‘This has been one of those crazy convoluted stories [of] are they a woman? Are they a man? We can’t even really speak so freely about it because all hell will break loose.
‘Clearly these four journalists have some rewirings that need to be constructed in their brains.’
Arnolt, who left ESPN in April 2023 after claiming the network’s culture left her ‘stifled’ and ‘uncomfortable’, condemned her former employers last year for airing a tribute to transgender swimmer Lia Thomas during Women’s Month.
The outspoken reporter has previously spoken out against transgender athletes in women’s sports, branding Thomas a ‘bigot’ during an exclusive interview with DailyMail.com shortly after her ESPN exit.
And she believes ‘fringe extreme leftists’ are responsible for Khelif being named as one of AP’s top three female athletes of the year.
‘I think this just goes to show that once again the mainstream media cannot be trusted,’ she continued. ‘Yes, they did ultimately go with Caitlin Clark. Great. That was the majority.
‘But still you find that there’s these fringe extreme leftists always involved, they’re always in the mix at these mainstream media organizations.’
The Algerian controversially won the women’s welterweight competition at the Olympics
Arnolt left ESPN in April 2023 after claiming the network left her ‘stifled’ and ‘uncomfortable’
Clark was named winner of the AP award for her stunning impact on women’s basketball thanks to a sublime final college year and her debut season in the WNBA, while Biles took second.
Clark received 35 votes, Olympic gymnast Biles was second with 25 and Khelif was third with four votes.
Khelif is currently taking legal action over the media reports that allegedly detailed her leaked medical records.
The welterweight boxer also filed a legal complaint with French authorities over the online abuse and harassment she was subjected to during the Olympic Games.
