Victory at the Paris Olympics has “a special taste”, said Algeria’s Imane Khelif after winning boxing gold on Friday, following two weeks of speculation over her eligibility amid a gender dispute that has engulfed the Games.
Khelif, who beat China’s Yang Liu to claim the welterweight title, and Taiwan’s Lin Yu-ting were caught up in a storm that has dominated headlines and been the subject of heated debate on social media platforms.
Both were disqualified by the International Boxing Association (IBA) from the 2023 World Championships, which said a sex chromosome test had ruled both of them ineligible.
They are competing in the Olympics after the International Olympic Committee (IOC) stripped the IBA of its status as the sport’s governing body in 2023 and took control of organising the boxing in Paris.
At these Games, the IOC is using boxing eligibility rules that were applied at the 2016 and 2021 Olympics which do not include gender testing.
“I am a woman like any woman,” Khelif, who has filed a legal complaint in France for online harassment, told a news conference after her gold medal.
“I was born a woman and I have lived as a woman but there are enemies to success and they can can’t digest my success. That also gives my success a special taste.”
The IOC rejected the results of the IBA-ordered tests on Khelif and Lin as arbitrary and illegitimate, saying there was no reason to conduct them.
Khelif, a silver medallist at the 2022 worlds, said she did not understand the IBA’s actions.
“All that is being said about me on social media is immoral. I want to change the minds of people around the world,” Khelif added.
“From 2018, I competed under the authority of the IBA and they know everything about me. I don’t recognise this IBA. Some of the members hate me and I don’t know why.
“I sent them a message today that my honour is above everything.”
Khelif is the first Algerian woman to win an Olympic boxing gold medal, as well as the first Algerian boxer to win gold since Hocine Soltani at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta.
The 25-year-old has had immense support from the crowds at her fights, with Algerian fans, many of whom are women, flocking to Roland Garros and the North Paris Arena to cheer her on.
“The Algerian woman is known for her courage,” Khelif said.
“The coming of these women to the stadium sent a message to the world that our honour is above everything.”