The Olympics’ most controversial boxer stood her ground today amid a vicious “hate campaign” and took another giant step toward her gold medal dream.
Imane Khelif, 25, defeated Hungary’s Anna Luca Hamori, 23, after spending the past 48 hours, since her first fight in Paris, at the centre of claims that she was, in fact, a man.
She managed to stay focused on boxing and revealed her determination to defy her detractors by showing her class and power in the ring by winning her second fight in Paris.
When Khelif entered the ring, she was greeted with thunderous applause and did a Ronaldo-style celebration, toning her knees and then doing gymnastics with her arms raised in the air.
She and her Hungarian opponent touched gloves at the start as a sporting gesture.
Her steely composure during the most extraordinary approach to an athlete in Paris is likely to be welcomed by Olympic chiefs who have stood by her throughout the scandal.
But questions about turnout will continue despite claims that much of the opposition against her is fueled by online hate.
Imane Khelif stood firm today amid a vicious “hate campaign” and took another giant step toward her gold medal dream.
She defeated 23-year-old Hungarian Anna Luca Hamori after spending the past 48 hours, since her first fight in Paris, at the centre of accusations that she was a man.
When Khelif entered the ring, she was greeted with thunderous applause and did a Ronaldo-style celebration, toning her knees and then doing weightlifting exercises with her arms raised high (pictured: the bozers during the fight)
Imane Khelif (right) and Luca Anna Hamori during the women’s 66kg quarter-final at the North Paris Arena today
At one point, the couple fell to the ground during the fight.
Khelif and Hamori look at the referee preparing to recover after their fall.
Imane Khelif, 25, on the sidelines of today’s highly anticipated boxing match
Khelif, who was born female and was described today by Olympic chief Thomas Bach as “a woman… a woman… a woman”, had been the target of IBA prosecution at the World Championships in New Delhi last year for failing gender eligibility tests.
But she remained defiant and after having dispatched her first opponent, Italian Angela Carini stepped into the ring with the full backing of the Italian and Algerian Boxing Association who brought her to France.
The furore surrounding her worsened when the Hungarian posted a picture on social media of a “beauty and a beast” in the run-up to the fight and declared that she would go into her next fight without worrying about whether she would be fighting a man or a woman.
But this only helped increase attention to Khelif’s sex and Olympic chiefs criticised online “hate speech” directed towards her.
Khelif was one of two boxers whose gender was questioned at the Olympics; the second was Taipei’s Lin Yu-Ting, who beat 22-year-old Sitora Turdibekova of Uzbekistan by unanimous decision.
The Italian was stunned by the cross from Algeria’s Imane Khelif (in red)
On Thursday, Italian Angela Carini, distraught, withdrew from her competition with Algerian Imane Khelif.
Angela Carini, 25, from Italy, fell to her knees in tears after losing the fight.
Khelif (pictured front right) spoke about her difficult childhood in an interview before the Games.
Genetic testing in 2023 has shown that Khelif, 25, has XY male chromosomes in her DNA. But she is not transgender.
Hamori is part of the Hungarian national team and was a national champion in Hungary.
Imane Khelif will fight against Hungarian Anna Luca Hamori in the next round of the Olympic Games
Olympic officials say the issue is a “minefield” and that no indisputable forensic scientific evidence has been provided to prove the two athletes were not women.
IOC chief Bach said: “We are talking about women’s boxing. We have two boxers who were born as women, who were raised as women, who have a women’s passport, who have competed for many years as women. This is the clear definition of a woman.”
But Khelif’s team were not happy with the “baseless” accusations made against the boxer and when she eventually returns to Algeria she will be a star after delivering the most sensational boxing fight by defeating her first opponent in just 46 seconds on Thursday.
A tumultuous welcome is said to await him when he lands back in Tiaret with offers of television shows and films, said an Algerian businessman living in Paris.
“She is a national heroine in her country. The public there feels very sorry for the way she has been treated. She was not famous before, but now she is a star.”
The Algerian Olympic and Sports Committee has lodged an official complaint with the IOC to protest against the online harassment of Khelif which constitutes “a serious violation of sporting ethics and the Olympic Charter by one of the participants in the boxing tournament of the Paris Olympic Games,” according to a statement posted on the committee’s Facebook page.
The statement did not name the boxer who allegedly posted disparaging comments about the Algerian, but warned that the IOC “has issued a final warning to remove any publications concerning our heroine Iman Khalif.”
He added: “We reserve the right to prosecute all those who participated in the heinous campaign against our heroine Imane Khelif.”