Four AP Voters Pick Imane Khelif Over Caitlin Clark For Female Athlete Of The Year

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Caitlin Clark was awarded the 2024 Associated Press Female Athlete of the Year Award to the surprise of very few. 

What caught OutKick's attention was a nugget buried in today's AP report announcing the big news: controversial Algerian Olympic gold-medal winning boxer Imane Khelif received four votes for AP Female Athlete of the Year.

Of the 74 voters in charge of handing out this prestigious award, 35 voted for Clark, 25 voted for Simone Biles, and then there were the four who voted for Khelif.

…wait a second, what was that last part? 

*checks notes* 

Yup, my eyes are not playing tricks on me. Yes, that Algerian boxer. 

Not only was Khelif a finalist for this award, four AP voters chose the boxer over Clark and Biles, who each had far more impressive resumes than Khelif.

XY chromosome boxer Imane Khelif celebrates gold during the 2024 Paris Games. Never forget. Andrew P. Scott / USA TODAY Sports

An XY chromosome boxer got four votes for the Associated Press Female Athlete of the Year award

Remember, in addition to being the most Googled athlete of the year, Khelif caused a lot of controversy by appearing in the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris. 

The controversy began when it was discovered that Khelif had XY chromosomes, yet was still allowed to compete in the women’s division and ended up winning the welterweight gold medal for Algeria. Several months after Khelif’s Olympic victory, medical reports emerged that further supported the theory that the boxer has XY chromosomes and not XX.

Four AP voters think Imane Khelif had a bigger impact on women's sports in 2024 than Caitlin Clark. Photo by -/AFP via Getty Images

So here we have a boxer who accomplished a feat that they probably shouldn’t have been allowed to accomplish, and we have people choosing Khelif over Clark and Biles, who did far more for women’s sports. 

Also, am I the only one that thinks that there are other better candidates for this award, such as Coco Gauff or Angel Reese?

The AP has a reputation for being woke, and this only solidifies that reputation.

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John Simmons graduated from Liberty University hoping to become a sports journalist. He’s lived his dream while working for the Media Research Center and can’t wait to do more in this field with Outkick. He could bore you to death with his knowledge of professional ultimate frisbee, and his one life goal is to find Middle Earth and start a homestead in the Shire. He’s still working on how to make that happen.