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Thousands of Algerian fans roared Imane Khelif, one of two boxers at the centre of a gender eligibility row, to Olympic boxing gold on a packed Philippe-Chatrier Court at Roland Garros late on Friday night.
To tumbling chants of “Imane, Imane”, the 25-year-old welterweight scored a unanimous decision over China’s reigning world champion Liu Yang, dominating their three-round bout before being carried on a lap of honour around the arena by her jubilant cornermen.
Khelif’s victory completed a remarkable nine days since she won her first-round bout over Italy’s Angela Carini in just 46 seconds, sparking a global outcry which can only be expected to escalate in the wake of her comprehensive win.
Khelif and Chinese Taipei boxer Lin Yu-ting were both cleared to compete by the International Olympic Committee (IOC), despite being banned by the International Boxing Association (IBA) in 2023 for allegedly failing to meet gender eligibility criteria.
At a chaotic press conference staged by the discredited governing body in Paris last week, the IBA failed to provide any concrete evidence of the testing process or results.
The IBA has been barred from involvement in each of the last two Olympic boxing tournaments by the IOC over financial and corruption concerns and its president Umar Kremlev has repeatedly railed against the governance of IOC president Thomas Bach.
Kremlev, or the IBA, have variously alleged the presence of XY chromosomes or elevated testosterone levels in tests supposedly submitted by Khelif and Lin, but the presented evidence has often been contradictory and is as yet unsubstantiated.
Nevertheless, a tearful Carini’s claim that she “had never been hit so hard” in the course of her brief Olympic appearance was seized upon by many public figures, including Donald Trump, Elon Musk and JK Rowling.
“It’s a person that transitioned,” Trump said, wrongly. Musk retweeted a post by American swimmer Riley Gaines, who wrote: “Men don’t belong in women’s sport.” Rowling, while acknowledging that Khelif is not trans, wrote: “My objection… is to male violence against women becoming an Olympic sport.”
Prior to her ban, which followed a win over previously unbeaten Russian prospect Azalia Amineva, Khelif had competed as as woman throughout her career. She first contested the World Championships in 2017 and was beaten by Ireland’s Kellie Harrington in the quarter-finals of the Tokyo Olympics.
Liu, who won the 2023 world title in Khelif’s belated absence, was clearly second best in the opening exchanges but rallied in the second, catching her opponent with some sharp counter shots, only to once again lose the round and with it, effectively, the contest.
Lin is scheduled to contest the women’s 57kg final against Poland’s Julia Szeremeta on Saturday.
