KUALA LUMPUR – Imane Khelif from Algeria has won gold in women’s boxing at the Paris Olympics amid a gender controversy, which has been debunked.
The 25-year-old athlete was crowned champion after beating Yang Liu from China 5-0 in the 66kg final at Roland-Garros Stadium, Bernama reported.
The Algerian national was previously disqualified from the 2023 World Championships after failing an unspecified gender eligibility test by the International Boxing Association (IBA).
At the time, Khelif, who was assigned female at birth, called the decision a “big conspiracy” after she had previously competed in the competition without any problems.
However, the International Olympic Council (IOC) had suspended IBA in 2019, and stopped recognising it last year due to “financial and ethical impropriety”, according to NBC.
The IOC also described Khelif’s disqualification as “a sudden and arbitrary decision by the IBA.”
Council president Thomas Bach has also defended Khelif.
“We are talking about women’s boxing. We have two boxers who were born as women, raised as women, who have passports as women and who have competed for many years as women and this is a clear definition of a woman,” Bach told a media conference last week, according to Al Jazeera.
It is Algeria’s first gold in women’s boxing.
“I’ve worked for eight years, with no sleep. Now I’m an Olympic champion,” said Khelif.
Her Chinese opponent, despite losing, praised her performance.
“I tried my best, but my opponent was much better. She is an excellent fighter and so strong,” said Yang.
Khelif’s opening match of the Paris Games on August 1 against Angela Carini saw a controversy where the Italian boxer abandoned the match after 46 seconds.
After taking a punch to her face, Carini went to the corner and surrendered.
“I wasn’t able to finish the match. I felt a strong pain on my nose,” Carini said after the bout.
Carini then apologised for not shaking Khelif’s hand after the Algerian boxer’s win.
Khelif respectively eliminated Carini (preliminaries), Hungary’s Anna Luca Hamori (quarter-finals) and Thailand’s Janjaem Suwannapheng (semi-finals) before beating Yang in the final.
Khelif, who was born in rural northwestern Algeria, was also among the country’s first three Olympic women’s boxers sent to the Tokyo Games three years ago. She won her opening match but lost the second to eventual gold medalist Kellie Harrington of Ireland.
The Paris Games will end tomorrow. – August 10, 2024
