TIARET, Algeria: Algerian boxer Imane Khelif's poor rural hometown erupted in joy on Friday as she won gold at the Paris Olympics amid a major gender controversy.
Cheers for Khelif's name and the country's famous chant “one two three, viva l'Algerie” erupted in Biban Mesbah, a town of about 6,000 residents.
“It's Algeria's victory,” her father, Omar Khelif, told reporters as he watched the fight on a giant screen along with the rest of the village about 300 kilometers (185 miles) southwest of Algiers.
Villagers fired shots into the air to honor 25-year-old Khelif's first Olympic medal after her victory over China's Yang Liu in the women's 66kg final.
The jubilation also spread to the capital, Algiers, where crowds invaded the city center and celebrated the victory with fireworks and a chorus of car horns.
Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune joined the celebrations on social media X, saying: “We are all proud of you, Olympic champion Imane, your victory today is Algeria's victory and your gold is Algeria's gold.”
Ahead of Khelif's fight, hundreds of volunteers turned out at Biban Mesbah to help prepare for the big night.
Despite scorching temperatures of 46 degrees Celsius (114 degrees Fahrenheit), the men carried out a major clean-up operation while dozens of women were busy cooking a giant couscous.
“We agreed to give the village a new face and breathe new life into it, with Imane Khelif's victory,” her cousin Mounir Khelif, 36, told AFP.
“We all helped each other, some brought couscous, others oil and vegetables, while those who couldn't help with provisions helped with the preparations,” said Amina Saadi, 52, a mother of six.
“We are all united behind Imane Khelif, who has honored Algeria, it is the least we can offer her,” she said.
The boxer has been the victim of a social media hate campaign portraying her as a “man fighting women.”
“I am a strong woman with special powers. From the ring I sent a message to those who were against me,” she said on Friday after her win.
The gender controversy ignited in the French capital when Khelif defeated Angela Carini in 46 seconds in their opening match, the Italian reduced to tears and abandoned the fight after suffering a badly damaged nose.
Algerians from all walks of life have shown their solidarity with Khelif, annoyed that her father was forced to show her birth certificate to journalists to prove she was born a girl.
Khelif's international career took off with her participation in the Covid-delayed Tokyo 2021 Olympics, where she finished fifth in her weight class.
In 2023, she reached the semifinals of the World Championships in New Delhi.
But then she was disqualified after gender eligibility testing by the International Boxing Association, which is not recognized by the International Olympic Committee and does not run the sport in Paris.
From a family of limited means, she spoke before the Games about the hardship of her life in “a village of conservative people” in semi-desert surroundings.
Imane said her father initially found it hard to accept her boxing.
“I came from a conservative family. Boxing is not a widely practiced sport by women, especially in Algeria,” she told Canal Algerie a month before the Games, smiling lightly and her voice soft.
In an interview with UNICEF, she said that she used to sell scraps and that her mother sold homemade couscous to pay for bus tickets to a nearby town.
