PARIS: Algerian boxer Imane Khelif won a gold medal on Friday at the Paris Olympics, emerging as a champion from a tumultuous run at the Games in which she endured intense scrutiny in the ring and online abuse from around the world over misconceptions about her femininity.
Khelif beat Yang Liu of China 5-0 in the final of the women's welterweight division, capping the best streak of her boxing career with a victory at Roland Garros.
Jubilant crowds embraced Khelif in Paris — draped in Algerian flags and chanting her name — even as she faced extraordinary scrutiny from world leaders, major celebrities and others who have questioned her eligibility or falsely claimed she was a man. It has pushed her into a wider divide over changing attitudes to gender identity and regulations in sports.
Khelif told SNTV, a sports video partner of The Associated Press, last weekend that the wave of hateful scrutiny she has received “damages human dignity,” and she called for an end to bullying of athletes. She also said a gold medal would be “the best answer” to the backlash against her.
It stems from the Russian-dominated International Boxing Association's decision to disqualify Khelif and fellow two-time Olympian Li Yu-ting of Taiwan from last year's world championships, claiming both failed a dodgy eligibility test for women's events.
The International Olympic Committee took the unprecedented step last year of permanently banning the IBA from the Olympics after years of concerns about its governance, competitive fairness and financial transparency. The IOC has called the arbitrary sex tests the sport's governing body imposed on the two boxers irretrievably flawed.
The IOC has repeatedly confirmed the two boxers' right to compete in Paris, with president Thomas Bach personally defending Khelif and Lin while calling the criticism “hate speech”.
“We have two boxers who were born as women, who were raised as women, who have a passport as a woman and who have competed for many years as women,” Bach said.
That has not stopped the international outcry linked to misconceptions about the wars that have been amplified by Russian disinformation networks. Nor has it slowed two boxers who have performed at the highest levels of their careers under the spotlight.
Khelif's gold medal is Algeria's first in women's boxing. She is only the country's second boxing gold medallist, joining Hocine Soltani (1996).
Hundreds of flag-clad, boisterous supporters of Khelif crowded the paths through the famous Roland Garros tennis complex in Paris and packed the stands, chanting, cheering and waving Algerian flags. Khelif has also become a hero in his North African country where many fans have seen the world's dissection of Khelif as criticism of their nation.
Khelif's fight was called “The Night of Fate” in local newspapers. Projection screens to watch the match were set up in public squares in Algiers and other cities. In the town of Tiaret in the region where Khelif comes from, workers braved the scorching summer heat to paint a mural of Khelif at the gym where she learned to box.
“Imane has managed to turn criticism and attacks on her femininity into fuel,” says Mustapha Bensaou of the Tiaret gym. “The defamation has given her a boost. … It's a bit of a blessing in disguise.”
The gold medal is the culmination of Khelif's nine-day run through an Olympic tournament that began with a bizarre incident. Khelif's first opponent, Angela Carini of Italy, abandoned the match after just 46 seconds, saying she was in too much pain from Khelif's punches.
An already brewing story suddenly became major international news, with the likes of former US President Donald Trump and “Harry Potter” author JK Rowling weighing in with criticism and false speculation about men competing with women in sports. Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni personally visited Carini to share her condolences and to cast doubt on Khelif's eligibility.
Carini later said she regretted her actions and wanted to apologize to Khelif. Italian newspaper La Stampa detailed Carini's mindset in the days leading up to the game, detailing pressure from both inside and outside her team to avoid the fight amid growing speculation about Khelif's status.
Khelif has never done as well in another international tournament as she did in these Olympics. When she was cast as some sort of unstoppable punching machine last week 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 the notion of being one of the best Olympic boxers in the world.
Boxing's exiled governing body did nothing to help the case for her disqualification at the world championships last year during a random press conference in which its leadership contradicted itself about the tests and refused to answer basic questions about them, citing Olympic privacy concerns. committees in Algeria and Taiwan.
Lin is also fighting for a gold medal on Saturday on the Olympic finals card. She takes on Julia Szeremeta from Poland with a chance to win Taiwan's first boxing gold.
