Following the debate that arose within boxing at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, Algerian Imane Khelif returned to the ring after her victory over Italian Angela Carini, as the 25-year-old boxer abandoned the fight after just under 50 seconds. On this occasion, she won by unanimous decision against Hungarian Anna Luca Hamori and advanced to the semi-finals, thus securing a medal.
After the result, the athlete burst into tears and let out her anger with the rest of her team in her corner. On Tuesday, August 6, she will face Thailand’s Janjaem Suwannapheng, who won 4-1 against Turkey’s Busenaz Surmeneli.
All the judges of the match (Indian Kabilian Sai Ashok, Mongolian Atarbayar Byambabayar, Canadian Jeffery Venhoeven, Sri Lankan Nelka Thampu, American Shawn Reese and Argentine Manuel Vilarino) saw the Algerian boxer as the clear winner.
In the first round, all the cards gave her the win by 10-9, while in the second round something similar happened, except for one that scored 10-8. In the last round, the result from the beginning was repeated, with all the decisions in her favor by 10-9.
While the issue remains a matter of debate, International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Thomas Bach himself said there was “never any doubt” about the gender of Khelif and Taiwanese Lin Yu-ting and stressed that they will not engage in a politically motivated “culture war.”
“Let’s be very clear: we are talking about women’s boxing, these are two boxers who were born women, who grew up as women, who have a women’s passport and who have competed for many years as women,” the president said this Saturday at a press conference. And then he added: “This is the clear definition of women, there was never any doubt that they were women.”
Before starting her journey in Paris 2024, the athlete held a record of 37 wins (5KO) and 9 losses (none by knockout). She made her debut in the discipline on October 12, 2018 with a victory against the Thai, Anusara Dusanthia, according to the specialized site BoxRec. That result made her reach the semifinals of the Balkan Tournament, but from then on she accumulated five consecutive falls, including her participations in that contest, the 2019 African Games and the World Championship.
From February 2020, Khelif put together a positive record until reaching the final of the 2021 Bocskai Memorial, in which she lost by unanimous decision to Finland’s Mira Potkonen. From that moment on, her career spiraled upward with 18 wins in 20 fights, which led her to become champion of the 2021 Bosphorus Tournament, 2021 Belgrade Golden Gloves, 2022 Nations Cup and 2022 Strandja Memorial. The British, Amy Broadhurst, stopped her overwhelming advance in the final of the 2022 Women’s World Championship.
In between these titles, she also took part in her first Olympic Games in Tokyo. She beat Tunisian Mariem Homrani, but was eliminated in the quarter-finals by future champion Kellie Harrington by unanimous decision. Unlike in Paris, the fighter competed in the lightweight category (up to 61 kg).
Already in 2023, the African fighter sought to surpass the world runner-up position achieved in 2022 and advanced to the final of the tournament played in New Delhi, but the International Boxing Association (IBA), in charge of the event, disqualified her along with Taiwanese Lin Yu-ting because the studies carried out showed a “testosterone level higher than the average level of women,” as detailed by La Gazzetta dello Sport.
This decision by the IBA provoked a response from Imane Khelif, after she was excluded for not “passing the gender eligibility tests,” reported the newspaper El Español: “I was frequently bullied because of my appearance, and I resisted and continued despite everything. Today those arguments were successful and I am in shock. I participated in many tournaments and there were no problems, but when my chances of winning the gold medal were great, they came and prevented it, justifying themselves with the fact that my numbers are higher than those of the rest of the women.”
Her return took place that same calendar year to face the African Olympic Qualifier, in which she earned the ticket to Paris 2024 and wrote a message on her Instagram profile after achieving this achievement: “I am very happy because I was looking forward to this competition. All the problems I have suffered since the World Championship, the enthusiasm of the Algerian people, proud of their country, stopped because of this injustice that happened to me.”
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