Algerian boxer Imane Khelif wins Olympic medal after gender misconceptions spark outrage

VILLEPINTE, France (AP) — Algerian boxer Imane Khelif won a medal Saturday at the Paris Olympics in an emotional battle that followed days of sharp criticism and online abuse, with misunderstandings about her gender spiraling into a larger conflict over identity in sport.

Khelif defeated Hungary’s Anna Luca Hamori 5:0 in the quarterfinals of the women’s 66-kilogram division. Khelif wins at least a bronze medal after comfortably claiming the second victory of her tumultuous second trip to the Olympics.

Khelif has faced outrage fueled by claims by the International Boxing Association, which has been banned from the Olympics since 2019, that she failed an unspecified eligibility test to compete last year due to elevated testosterone levels. She won her opening bout at the Paris Games on Thursday when her opponent Angela Carini of Italy collapsed in tears after just 46 seconds.

That unusual ending became a sharp wedge that fueled the already prominent divide over gender identity and regulation in sports, leading to comments from people like former US President Donald Trump, Harry Potter author JK Rowling and others who wrongly claimed that Khelif was male or transgender.

At the Paris Games, which focused on inclusion and drew outrage over an opening ceremony featuring drag queens, LGBTQ+ groups say the hateful comments could pose a danger to their community and female athletes.

Khelif’s second victory in Paris seemed like an emotional catharsis for the 25-year-old boxer from a village in northwestern Algeria. After raising her hand in victory, Khelif stepped to the center of the ring, waved to her fans, knelt down and then slammed her palm on the canvas, her smile turning to tears.

She left the ring to hug her coaches as her fans roared and cried during their embrace and as she walked away. Back home in Algeria, her family and fans watched with pride as she won her second fight.

“I am happy for my daughter. She is brave despite racist and sexist attacks to break her,” her mother, Irene, said on Algerian television.

The Hungarian Boxing Federation said Friday it planned to play the match with the International Olympic Committee, but allowed the match to go ahead anyway. After the match, Hungarian IOC member Balazs Furjes said, along with Hamori, that she was convinced that “not fighting was never an option.”

“I’m so proud of myself, because I had to fight, and I love to fight,” said Hamori, who previously won two fights in Paris. “This was a tough fight, but I think I was able to do everything I wanted to do for the fight, and I think in this fight I’m so proud of myself, and I’m so grateful to be here. This was really a childhood dream.”

Furjes read an ambiguous statement in which he praised both Hamori and the IOC, but indicated that Hungary was not entirely satisfied.

“We Hungarians are always ready to fight bravely and fiercely, and that is what Luca has just done and shown us,” Furjes said. “Of course, the Paris boxing competitions have their consequences. These consequences must be carefully evaluated after the Games.”

Khelif paused briefly to talk to an Algerian television crew and then walked straight to the locker room, ignoring the dozens of waiting reporters.

IOC President Thomas Bach earlier on Saturday defended Khelif and fellow boxer Lin Yu-ting of Taiwan. Khelif and Lin were disqualified midway through last year’s world championships by the IBA, the former governing body of Olympic boxing, after they said they failed to meet the eligibility test.

Both have competed in IBA events for years without any problems, and the Russian-dominated organization, which has been in conflict with the IOC for years, has refused to provide information about the tests, underscoring the lack of transparency in almost all aspects of its activities, especially in recent years.

“Let’s be very clear here: We’re talking about women’s boxing,” Bach said Saturday. “We have two boxers who were born as women, who were raised as women, who have a passport as women, who have fought as women for years. And that is the clear definition of a woman. There was never any doubt that they were women.”

The IBA, which is led by an acquaintance of Russian President Vladimir Putin, disqualified Khelif last year, calling information about the tests confidential.

“What we see now is that some want to own the definition of who a woman is,” Bach said. “And there I can only invite them to come up with a scientifically based new definition of who a woman is; and how can someone who was born, raised, competed and has a passport as a woman not be considered a woman?

“We will not participate in a sometimes politically motivated culture war,” he added.

Against Hamori on Saturday, Khelif fought aggressively from the opening bell, landing a sharp left jab as the fighters circled. Her fans chanted her first name repeatedly midway through the opening round, and she won on all five judges’ cards.

She showed her sharp skills as she stalked Hamori in the second round, working behind the jab and repeatedly catching Hamori with short right hands, along with the occasional combination, to win the second round unanimously. Hamori also landed several key strikes of her own and never seemed fazed by Khelif’s power, which until this week was not really considered remarkable in her weight class.

The referee deducted a point from Khelif midway through the third round when both fighters fell to the canvas from a clinch with Khelif on top. Hamori was then warned for punches to the back of the head and fell again from a clinch 10 seconds before the bell.

The exhausted fighters embraced half-heartedly after the bell, but they touched fists and exchanged warm smiles just before the verdict was announced. They touched hands again as Khelif held the ropes to force Hamori out of the ring in a traditional boxing gesture of sportsmanship.

Khelif, who failed to win a medal at the Tokyo Games three years ago, will face Thailand’s Janjaem Suwannapheng in the 66kg semifinals at Roland Garros on Tuesday. Suwannapheng, who won silver at last year’s world championships, defeated reigning Olympic champion Busenaz Surmeneli of Turkey minutes before Khelif’s victory.

Lin, also a two-time Olympian, would win her first medal on Sunday if she beats Bulgaria’s Svetlana Staneva. Lin won her opening match on Friday with ease over Uzbekistan’s Sitora Turdibekova.

The limited field of the Paris Olympic boxing tournament — which has the lowest number of boxers since 1956 — means that many fighters can win medals with just two wins. Boxing awards two bronze medals in each weight class, meaning that every semi-finalist wins a medal.

In Paris, Olympic sport achieved gender parity for the first time, with 124 men and 124 women competing, just 12 years after women’s boxing made its debut at the Olympics.