Imane Khelif strikes gold: How Algerian boxer overcame gender row to rewrite history at Paris Olympics 2024
Gender-row boxer Imane Khelif outclassed Yang Liu of China to seal a historic gold at the Paris Olympics 2024.
In August 2009, Caster Semenya, the then-teenage runner from South Africa, faced public scrutiny over her gender at a showpiece event. Fifteen years later, in August 2024, gender-row boxer Imane Khelif fought for glory to cap off an unforgettable campaign at the Paris Olympics 2024 on Saturday. ‘Imane! Imane!’ chants ring out when the Algerian boxer met Yang Liu of China in the gold medal match at the Paris Games.
Securing a controversial Paris Olympics gold, boxer Khelif defeated Liu of China in a unanimous decision at the Roland Garros. Khelif earned unanimous decision from all five judges. All judges handed the bout in her favour for all three rounds in the final of the women's welterweight division. The Algerian boxer didn't lose a single round on the judge's scorecard in the lead-up to the Paris Games final. Khelif was subjected to a torrent of threats over misconceptions about her sex. She produced one of the most dominant runs to secure her first Olympic gold medal while dealing with a cascade of online abuse.
Gender row
The Russian-dominated International Boxing Association disqualified Khelif and two-time Olympian Li Yu-ting of Taiwan at the World Championships in 2023. It was claimed that the two boxers failed a dubious eligibility test for the prestigious women's competition. In the same year, the International Olympic Committee permanently banned the IBA. The sport's governing body's arbitrary sex tests imposed on the two boxers were labelled "irretrievably flawed" by the IOC.
'Hate speech'
The IOC has backed gender row boxers Khelif and Li Yu throughout the Paris Olympics. IOC president president Thomas Bach called the criticism “hate speech” while extending his support to Khelif and Lin. “We have two boxers who are born as women, who have been raised as women, who have a passport as a woman and have competed for many years as women,” Bach said.
What was at stake for Khelif and Algeria
Primed to win gold for Algeria at the Paris Olympics, the gender row boxer recorded impressive wins in all four bouts at the Paris Games. She outclassed Yang, the 2023 world champion, in the final of the boxing event at the Paris Games. Yang was also the No.2 seed boxer in the women's welterweight division at the Summer Olympics. Already a hometown hero in the African country, Khelif had already confirmed Algeria's first Olympic medal in women's boxing. She has joined Hocine Soltani (1996) by winning Algeria's second boxing gold at the Summer Games.
Gold in Paris: Khelif's best response
Speaking to The Associated Press, Khelif mentioned that the wave of abuse she has received “harms human dignity”. Winning gold was the "best response" to hit back at the detractors for Khelif. Gender row boxers Khelif and Lin earned the loudest cheers during their bouts at the Paris Games.
Khelif's stellar ten-day run for the gold medal featured an infamous 46-second bout against Angela Carini of Italy. After early exchanges of punches, Carini abandoned the bout. Carini refused the traditional handshake gesture, only to regret her actions, and she later wished to apologize to Khelif.