Imane Khelif will fight for an Olympic gold medal after winning the semi-final of the women’s 66kg boxing welterweight division.
The 25-year-old Algerian star had been at the center of a huge media storm throughout the Olympics after beating Italy’s Angela Carini in just 46 seconds.
The Italian boxer reportedly told her coach “It’s not right, it’s not right,” and said she was unable to continue before collapsing to her knees.
Carini 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”.
Since the fight, which took place on August 1, speculation around Khelif’s eligibility to compete in women’s boxing went viral on social media, with high-profile figures like J.K. Rowling, Elon Musk, and Logan Paul opposing her inclusion in the competition and spreading misinformation on the matter.
The boxer’s own father, Omar Khelif, weighed in on the row during an interview with Sky News, showing the outlet his daughter’s birth certificate to viewers to prove that she was born a girl.
“My child is a girl. She was raised as a girl. She’s a strong girl. I raised her to be hard-working and brave. She has a strong will to work and to train,” he said. “The Italian opponent she faced was unable to defeat my daughter because my daughter was stronger and she was softer.”
International Olympic Committee president Thomas Bach also defended Khelif and fellow boxer Lin Yu-ting against the online misinformation at a press conference, saying: “Let’s be very clear, we are talking about women’s boxing,” per BBC.
“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.”
The young athlete is listed as a female on her passport and has been competing in women’s boxing since she started in the sport.
After facing intense scrutiny following her match with Carini, Khelif went on to compete in the quarter-finals of the competition on Saturday (August 3), defeating Hungary’s Anna Luca Hamori in a unanimous decision.
She then triumphed over Thailand’s Janjaem Suwannapheng on Monday (August 6) in all three rounds by unanimous decision to secure a place in the final, where she will face off against Yang Liu of China.
Having avoided social media scrutiny after her previous bouts, Khelif broke her silence to maintain: “I don’t care what anyone is saying about me with the controversy,” per The Independent.
“All that is important to me is that I stay on the level and give my people the performance they deserve. I know I’m a talented person and this is a gift to all Algerians,” she vowed.
“I am focused…I am here for a good performance and my dream. I will give everything I have for the final,” she concluded, as cited by Metro.