Algerian boxer Imane Khelif is on the verge of winning a gold medal at the Paris 2024 Olympics Games amid a gender dispute that has become one of the competition’s biggest stories.
Khelif, who will play for her chance to win gold on Friday, has been caught up in a gender debate after a 2023 decision by the now-banned International Boxing Association (IBA) resurfaced, which disqualified her for failing a gender eligibility test.
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has rejected the results of the IBA-ordered tests as arbitrary and illegitimate, saying there was no reason to conduct them.
But conservative leaders like Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and former US President Donald Trump have chimed in on the debate after misinformation spread about Khelif being a transgender athlete, which she is not.
But who is Khelif, and when is her fight for the gold?
Here’s what we know:
Who is Imane Khelif? When and at what time is her fight?
Khelif, 25, grew up playing football in her rural village in Tiaret, western Algeria. After giving up on the sport in her teenage years, Khelif looked to boxing despite her father’s dismay.
Training was not easy. Khelif had to sell scrap metal and her mother’s couscous to raise enough money to take the bus for 10km (six miles) to the nearest gym.
But she swiftly caught the attention of the Algerian boxing federation and competed in the 2018 Women’s World Championship, where she came 17th after being eliminated in the first round.
She was one of the first three Olympic women’s boxers Algeria sent to the 2020 Tokyo Games.
Khelif won her opening game at the competition but lost in the second round to Ireland’s Kellie Harrington, who later won gold.
She went on to raise her profile in the next two world championships and became an ambassador for UNICEF earlier this year to inspire young Algerians to go after their dreams.
Khelif will play for gold on Friday at Roland Garros Stadium at 10:51pm Paris time (20:51 GMT).
She is playing for Algeria’s second boxing gold medal since 2000 and the country’s first in women’s boxing.
Who is she fighting, and in what category is she fighting?
Khelif will face China’s Yang Liu in the welterweight category during the final match.
The welterweight category is a designated weight class between lightweight and middleweight.
Those in the welterweight category are competing in the 69kg weight class.
Who has she fought before?
Khelif’s winning streak began with her round of 16 win against Italy’s Angela Carini on August 1, after Carini pulled out of the game, which lasted only 46 seconds.
The Algerian boxer went on to face Hungary’s Anna Luca Hamori in the quarterfinals, which she won after a unanimous decision.
On Tuesday, Khelif beat Thailand’s Janjaem Suwannapheng 5-0 in the semifinals at Court Philippe-Chatrier, allowing her to progress to the finals.
What is the Olympic gender debate?
Following her match with Italy’s Carini, a debate about Khelif’s gender resurfaced after she failed an unspecified gender eligibility test from the IBA in 2023.
The decision to abruptly disqualify Khelif before the finals of the world championships was due to eligibility criteria that prevented athletes with XY chromosomes from competing in women’s events.
However, the IBA did not specify on what ground she failed, alongside Taiwan’s featherweight competitor, Lin Yu-ting.
At the time, Khelif called the decision a “big conspiracy” after she had previously competed in the competition without any problems.
The IOC President Thomas Bach has defended Khelif.
“We are talking about women’s boxing. We have two boxers who were born as women, raised as women, who have passports as women and who have competed for many years as women and this is a clear definition of a woman,” Bach told a media conference last week.
What is the latest?
After the Carini fight, Khelif has been the victim of a social media storm with insulting and transphobic comments about her ability to compete in women’s competitions and her gender identity.
The head of the Algerian delegation at the Paris Olympics said the Algerian Olympic Committee supported Khelif and had filed a complaint with the IOC over the “immoral” campaign.
Her father also described the attacks against his daughter as “immoral” and said she had brought the family “honour”.
Following her semifinal win, Khelif said the “best response” to all the uproar would be to win a gold medal.
“I am very happy,” Khelif said. “I’ve worked eight years for these Olympics, and I’m very proud of this moment. I would like to thank the support from people back home.”
