Boxer Imane Khelif shared a powerful statement after reigning victorious at the 2024 Paris Olympics.
The 25-year-old Algerian boxer, who has been at the center of a gender-based controversy at the Olympics, became an Olympic champion on Friday (August 10).
Khelif defeated Hungary’s Anna Luca Hamori in the quarterfinals and Thailand’s Janjaem Suwannapheng in the semi-finals to advance to the women’s welterweight (66kg) final, and face off against China’s Yang Liu.
She has now become the first Algerian woman to claim the boxing gold.
The young athlete was at the center of a huge media storm throughout the sporting event after beating Italy’s Angela Carini after the latter pulled out of the fight after just 46 seconds on August 1.
The Italian boxer subsequently refused to shake Khelif’s hand after the athlete was announced as the winner, and later revealed that she dropped out because she felt “a strong pain in the nose”.
After the match, there was speculation about Khelif’s eligibility to compete in women’s boxing, with some citing concerns over potential testosterone advantages as the athlete and Taiwanese boxer Lin Yu-ting were banned from last year’s world championships by the International Boxing Association (IBA) for failing to meet gender eligibility criteria.
However, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) criticized those tests as deeply flawed and has since barred the IBA over issues related to governance, alleged corruption, and ties to Russia.
The boxer’s father weighed in on the row, showing his daughter’s birth certificate to viewers to prove that she was born a girl.
“We have two boxers who are born as a woman, who have been raised as a woman, who have a passport as a woman, and who have competed for many years as a woman,” he continued. “This is the clear definition of a woman. There was never any doubt about them being a woman.”
Even International Olympic Committee president Thomas Bach defended the women against the online misinformation at a press conference, saying: “Let’s be very clear, we are talking about women’s boxing,” per BBC.
Despite facing intense scrutiny, Khelif – who is listed as a female on her passport and has been competing in women’s boxing since she started in the sport – didn’t lose a single round throughout her entire Olympic campaign.
She shared a defiant message after her victory, stating: “Whether I qualify or not, or whether I’m a woman or not, I have made many statements in the media,” per News.com.au.
“I am fully qualified to take part in this competition. I am a woman like any other woman. I was born a woman, I lived a woman, I competed as a woman,” she continued. “There’s no doubt about that. There are enemies of success – this is what I call them. That also gives my success a special test because of these attacks.”
The Olympian gold medalist believes her “honor is intact now,” and remarked that social media vitriol is now “meaningless”.
“They impact the dignity of people and I think now people’s thinking has changed. As for the IBA, since 2018 I’ve been boxing under the umbrella of the IBA. They know me very well, they know what I am capable and they know how I have developed over the years,” she continued.
“Now they are not recognized anymore. They hate me. They hate me and I don’t know why. I really don’t know why. I’ve sent them a single message with this gold medal, telling them my dignity and my honor is above everything else,” she concluded.
Congratulations Imane!