Algerian boxer Imane Khelif won a gold medal at the Paris Olympic Games on Friday, emerging victorious after a turbulent Games in which she faced intense criticism in the ring and abuse on the Internet around the world for misconceptions about her femininity.
Khelif defeated China’s Yang Liu 5-0 in the women’s welterweight final and completed the best fight streak of her boxing career with a win at Roland Garros.
Cheering crowds embraced Khelif in Paris – draping themselves in Algerian flags and chanting her name – even as she faced extraordinary criticism from world leaders, major celebrities and others who questioned her eligibility or falsely claimed she was a man. This has pushed her into an even deeper divide, resulting from changing attitudes to gender identity and the rules in sport.
Khelif told SNTV, a sports video partner of The Associated Press, last weekend that the wave of hate criticism she has faced “violates human dignity” and called for an end to the bullying of athletes. She also said a gold medal would be “the best response” to the backlash against her.
The background to this is the decision of the Russian-dominated International Boxing Association (IBA) to disqualify Khelif and two-time Olympic participant Li Yu-ting from Taiwan from last year’s World Championships on the grounds that both had failed a questionable aptitude test for the women’s competition.
The International Olympic Committee took the unprecedented step of permanently banning the IBA from the Olympics last year after years of concerns about its governance, competitive fairness and financial transparency. The IOC has called the arbitrary gender tests the sport’s governing body imposed on the two boxers irreparably flawed.
The IOC has repeatedly affirmed the right of the two boxers to compete in Paris. President Thomas Bach personally defended Khelif and Lin and at the same time described the criticism as “hate speech”.
“We have two boxers who were born as women, who were raised as women, who have a women’s passport and who have competed as women for many years,” said Bach.
This did nothing to stop the international outcry over misunderstandings about the boxers, which were amplified by Russian disinformation networks. Nor did it stop two boxers who have performed at their best in the public spotlight.
Khelif’s gold medal is Algeria’s first in women’s boxing. She is only the country’s second gold medalist in boxing after Hocine Soltani (1996).
Hundreds of flag-clad, vociferous Khelif supporters crowded the pathways through Paris’s famous Roland Garros tennis complex and filled the stands, chanting, cheering and waving Algerian flags. Khelif has also become a hero in her North African country, where many fans see the world’s dismemberment of Khelif as a criticism of their country.
Khelif’s fight was dubbed the “night of destiny” in local newspapers. Projection screens were set up in public squares in Algiers and other cities to watch the fight. In the town of Tiaret, in the region where Khelif is from, workers braved the scorching summer heat to paint a mural of Khelif on the gym where she learned to box.
“Imane has managed to turn the criticism and attacks on her femininity into fuel,” said Mustapha Bensaou of the Tiaret gym. “The slander has given her a boost. … It’s a bit of a blessing in disguise.”
The gold medal bout caps Khelif’s nine-day run through an Olympic tournament that began with a bizarre incident. Khelif’s first opponent, Italy’s Angela Carini, stopped the fight after just 46 seconds because she was in too much pain from Khelif’s punches.
A story already in progress suddenly became a top international topic. Personalities such as former US President Donald Trump and “Harry Potter” author JK Rowling spoke out with criticism and false speculation about men competing against women in sports. Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni personally visited Carini to offer her condolences and express doubts about Khelif’s suitability.
Carini later said she regretted her actions and wanted to apologize to Khelif. Italian newspaper La Stampa described Carini’s attitude in the days leading up to the fight, describing pressure from both inside and outside her team to avoid the fight amid growing speculation about Khelif’s status.
Khelif has never performed as well at any other international tournament as she has at these Olympics. When she was portrayed last week as some kind of unstoppable punching machine by pundits and provocateurs who had never seen her fight before, opponents and teammates who know her were shocked by the characterization.
Then she lived up to her claim to be one of the best Olympic boxers in the world.
Boxing’s banned governing body did nothing to bolster its argument regarding its disqualification from last year’s world championships during a chaotic press conference. In the press conference, the leadership contradicted itself on the testing and refused to answer basic questions about it, citing privacy concerns from the Olympic committees of Algeria and Taiwan.
Lin will also fight for a gold medal on Saturday on the final card of the Olympics, facing Julia Szeremeta of Poland for a chance to win Taiwan’s first gold medal in boxing.
Khelif’s former coach: “Defamation gave her a boost”
One of Khelif’s first coaches told the Associated Press that her success was the result of years of hard work under difficult circumstances.
Mustapha Bensaou, of the gym where Khelif learned to box, said Friday’s fight would go down in history in Tiaret, where men painted a mural of Khelif in 45 degrees Celsius (113 degrees Fahrenheit) heat.
“Imane has managed to turn the criticism and attacks on her femininity into fuel,” said Bensaou. “The slander has given her a boost… It’s a bit of a blessing in disguise.”
The coach said he was optimistic about Khelif’s chances, comparing her to other Algerian women who have taken home gold, including Hassiba Boulmerka, the track and field star who won the 1,500 meters in 1992 despite being under surveillance and receiving death threats from Islamists in the early days of the Algerian civil war.
“She will be the first woman to give Algeria a gold medal in boxing, God willing,” he said.
So what happened to Angela Carini?
Italian Angela Carini gave up after just 46 seconds in last week’s fight.
Carini and Khelif exchanged only a few blows before Carini gave up, which is extremely unusual in Olympic boxing. Carini’s headgear apparently came off twice before she gave up.
Carini refused to shake Khelif’s hand after the decision was announced and cried in the ring before leaving the ring.
Afterwards, a still-crying Carini said she gave up because she felt severe pain in her nose after the first blows. Carini, who had a blood stain on her pants, said she was not making a political statement and was not refusing to fight Khelif.
“I felt a strong pain in my nose and with the maturity of a boxer I said ‘enough’ because I didn’t want to, I didn’t want to, I couldn’t finish the fight,” Carini said.
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Khelif is a successful amateur who won a silver medal at the 2022 International Boxing Federation World Championships. The same governing body disqualified her from last year’s championships shortly before her gold medal bout because she allegedly had elevated testosterone levels.
As the 25-year-old entered the ring at the North Paris Arena to thunderous cheers, the crowd was confused by the sudden end of the fight.
Women gather around Khelif at Roland Garros
Several hours before Khelif’s gold medal match began, women arrived at Roland Garros wrapped in Algerian flags. Many of them had no interest in boxing, but only wanted to support their compatriots.
Sarah Dayan did not know who Khelif was before the Olympics, but saw the controversy online and said she wanted to compete for her.
“I’m super happy that she made it here and I’m here to support her because she needs it and she needs the support of women,” Dayan said.
