Algerian gender-row boxer Imane Khelif said that winning Paris Olympics gold on Friday was the perfect response to “attacks” and “bullying”, and declared: “I am a woman like any other.”
Khelif comprehensively won the women’s 66kg final at Roland Garros, having been the focus of intense scrutiny in the French capital in the past fortnight.
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The boxer defied a major gender controversy to win gold in front of a pulsating Roland Garros crowd that roared her to victory.
Khelif claimed a unanimous points decision win over China’s Yang Liu in the women’s 66kg final and was paraded around the arena on a team member’s shoulders.
There were large numbers of Algerian fans at the 15,000-seat Court Philippe Chatrier, usually home to Grand Slam tennis but instead there to witness one of the most controversial athletes at the Games.
“I’m very happy. For eight years this has been my dream and I’m now the Olympic champion and gold medallist”
| Photo Credit:
AFP
“I’m very happy. For eight years this has been my dream and I’m now the Olympic champion and gold medallist”
| Photo Credit:
AFP
Standing 1.79 metres (5ft 9in), Khelif had enjoyed a height and strength advantage over the three opponents she comfortably dismantled on her way to the final.
Yang was a different proposition, the 32-year-old being nearly as tall and having pedigree as a world champion.
Loud cheers went up when Khelif entered the arena, shadow-boxing her way towards the ring as chants of “Imane, Imane” rang out.
Khelif dictated most of the first round from the centre of the ring and unloaded a flurry of punches on Yang two-thirds of the way through to take the early initiative.
The second round started in the same way, with Khelif’s punches appearing to carry more snap, power and menace.
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The Algerian was ahead on all the judges’ scorecards heading into the third and final round, and she just needed to avoid serious trouble to claim gold.
The two embraced at the bell, and after Khelif’s comprehensive victory was confirmed, she did a jig in the centre of the ring and thumped her chest.
Together with Taiwan’s Lin Yu-ting, who fights in the 57kg women’s final on Saturday, Khelif was disqualified from last year’s world championships after they failed gender eligibility testing.
However they were cleared to compete in Paris, setting the stage for one of the biggest controversies of the Games.
After receiving a phone call from the Algerian president, Abdelmadjid Tebboune, the triumphant 25-year-old told beIN Sports: “I was subjected to bullying and a fierce campaign and this is the greatest response to them.”
With the gold medal hanging around her neck, Khelif was asked at a packed press conference about the eligibility row that dogged her Games.
“I am fully qualified to take part, I am a woman like any other. I was born a woman, lived a woman and competed as a woman.
“These are enemies of success,” she added.
“That gives my success a special taste because of these attacks.”
The International Olympic Committee is organising the boxing in Paris because of concerns over the International Boxing Association’s running of the sport.
At a press conference this week, the IBA’s Kremlin-linked president Umar Kremlev claimed that Khelif and Lin had undergone “genetic testing that shows that these are men”.
The IBA were responsible for the world championships in 2023 that Lin and Khelif were thrown out of.
The IOC cleared them to box in Paris.
“They hate me and I don’t know why,” she said of the IBA.
“I sent them a message with this medal.”
