French prosecutors have opened an investigation into an online harassment complaint made by Olympic boxing champion Imane Khelif after a torrent of criticism and claims about her sex during the Summer Games.

The athlete’s lawyer, Nabil Boudi, filed a legal complaint with a special unit in the Paris prosecutor’s office that combats online hate speech last Friday.

Boudi said the boxer was targeted by a “misogynist, racist and sexist campaign” as she won gold in the women’s welterweight division, becoming a hero in her native Algeria and bringing global attention to women’s boxing.

The prosecutor’s office said on Wednesday that it had received the complaint and its Office for the Fight against Crimes against Humanity and Hate Crime had opened an investigation on charges of “cyber harassment based on gender, public insults based on gender, public incitement to discrimination and public insults on the basis of origin”.

Khelif was thrust into a worldwide clash over gender identity and regulation in sports after her first fight in Paris, when Italian opponent Angela Carini pulled out just seconds into the match, citing pain from opening punches.

Claims that Khelif was transgender or a man erupted online. The International Olympic Committee defended her and denounced those they said were peddling misinformation. Khelif said that the spread of misconceptions about her “harms human dignity”.

Khelif’s legal complaint was filed against X, instead of a specific perpetrator, a common formulation under French law that leaves it up to investigators to determine which person or organisation may have been at fault.

The Paris prosecutor’s office did not name specific suspects. However, Boudi earlier confirmed that the roles of several high-profile figures – including X owner Elon Musk, Harry Potter author JK Rowling and US presidential candidate Donald Trump – were all part of Khelif’s lawsuit.

The development came after Khelif returned to Algeria, where she met President Abdelmadjid Tebboune on Wednesday.

Mustapha Bensaou, Khelif’s former coach, said the boxer’s complaint in France was initiated by the Algerian authorities and should “serve as a lesson in defending the rights and honour (of athletes) in Algeria and around the world.

“All those involved will be prosecuted for violating Imane’s dignity and honour,” Bensaou said in an interview with The Associated Press.

“The attacks on Imane were designed to break her and undermine her morale. Thank God, she triumphed.”

Khelif also addressed the controversy in a fresh interview in Algeria on Wednesday (local time).

“I saw that big personalities like Donald Trump had compared me to a man and it hurt me extremely,” she said.

-with AAP