After a fortnight surrounded by a gender-row controversy, Imane Khelif became an Olympic gold medallist for the first time as she defeated the world champion Yang Liu of China in the women’s 66kg category by unanimous decision.
The greatest victory of the 25-year-old’s career was sealed in jubilant scenes at Roland Garros as the Algerian diaspora showed up in numbers, filling out Court Philippe-Chatrier and raucously supporting her for every second of the gold medal bout. Khelif is Algeria’s first Olympic gold medallist in women’s boxing and their first boxer overall to win gold since 1996.
“As for whether I qualify or not, whether I am a woman or not, I have made many statements in the media,” Khelif said after her victory. “I am fully qualified to take part in this competition. I’m a woman like any other woman. I was born a woman, I lived a woman, I competed as a woman, there’s no doubt about that. [The detractors] are enemies of success, that is what I call them. And that also gives my success a special taste because of these attacks.”
Khelif is one of two boxers – Lin Yu-ting fights in the 57kg final on Saturday – who has been subjected to a gender eligibility row following their bans from competing in the 2023 boxing world championships after both failed a gender eligibility test administered by the International Boxing Association (IBA).
Before these events, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) took the decision to strip the IBA of recognition as boxing’s governing body and expel it from the Olympics over a number of issues, including corruption, financial transparency and governance.
Three days after the Algerian diaspora in France had rallied around Khelif in her semi-final battle, making their support clear after a difficult two weeks, they returned late on Friday even louder. After the first three finals of the night had finished, the 15,000-strong crowd came alive at the first mention of Khelif’s name. Chants of “Imane! Imane!” echoed around the stadium.
“My honour is intact now,” Khelif said. “But the attacks that I heard in social media were extremely bad and they are meaningless and they impact the dignity of people and I think that now people’s thinking has changed.
“As for the IBA, since 2018 I have been boxing under their umbrella. They know me very well, they know what I’m capable of, they know how I’ve developed over the years but now they are not recognised any more. They hate me and I don’t know why. I send them a single message: with this gold medal, my dignity, my honour is above everything else.”
It had been a fascinating battle between two skilful boxers boasting similar styles: both tall at 5ft 10in, with excellent ranges and a preference for slowly picking off their opponents. At 32 years old, Yang is also extremely experienced.
It was Yang who tried to surprise her opponent by departing from her usual style and forcing herself on the front foot. Even as Yang landed some blows and imposed herself early on, Khelif countered Yang brilliantly. With the first round judged unanimously in her favour, Khelif grew in confidence. Even as Yang drew on her experience in the final round, Khelif kept herself out of trouble.
At the final bell, the pair hugged and shook hands with each of their opposing coaching teams. They hugged again after Khelif was pronounced the victor. After an elaborate celebration, a joyful Khelif leaped on to the shoulders of one of her coaches to be carried around the stadium as the crowd roared.
Khelif and the three other medallists emerged shortly after for the medal ceremony, with most of the crowd staying in their seats in order to scream the Algerian national anthem.
