PARIS — The gender-controversy in Olympic boxing took to the big stage Tuesday night when Algerian boxer Imane Khelif won a unanimous decision and now moves on to fight for an Olympic gold medal.
Khelif faced Thailand’s Janjaem Suwannapheng shortly after 10.30pm under the closed roof of the Roland-Garros stadium, in front of a raucous and engaged crowd. The echoes in the cavernous Roland-Garros were much louder than in the small North Paris Arena, where Khelif’s Olympic journey began.
Algerian flags adorned the lower sections of Roland-Garros and Khelif entered the arena second, to the loudest cheers of the night and deafening chants of “I-MANE.” Dressed in blue shorts and a blue T-shirt, she stormed into the arena punching the air. Khelif and Suwannapheng locked gloves in the centre of the ring and the fight was on.
In the first round, Khelif again used her reach advantage, keeping Suwannapheng at a distance before landing jabs. Suwannapheng spent much of the early part of the round crouched on the defensive, and the crowd, sensing her conservatism, attempted to rally Khelif with loud chants of “I-MANE.” With just over a minute remaining in the round, Khelif attacked and trapped Suwannapheng in a clinch, forcing the referee to step in and separate the pair. Khelif won the first round 10-9 on all five judges’ scorecards.
The second round started with Khelif again taking the fight to Suwannapheng, but this time Suwannapheng countered, moving into Khelif’s range and landing some early punches. At 75 seconds into the round, Khelif caught Suwannapheng with a strong uppercut that seemed to stagger her. Suwannapheng’s counterpunches became wilder and most of them failed to land. The two clashed gloves again at the end of the round. Khelif again won the round 10-9 on all scorecards.
In the final round, Suwannapheng took an aggressive stance from the start, staggering Khelif as she held her tight. Khelif landed some powerful roundhouse punches to the side of Suwannapheng’s head, and even threw her off balance in her aggressive attack. Referee Shawn Reese of the United States let the fighters clinch, and as seconds ran out, Khelif used the maneuver to sap Suwannapheng’s energy. Knowing she needed a knockout, Suwannapheng went straight for Khelif’s jabs. But it wasn’t enough, and the judges gave her another five wins by 10-9 as the crowd roared. Khelif danced and smiled in the middle of the ring, much to the delight of the crowd.
Khelif and Chinese Taipei’s Lin Yu-ting, who is scheduled to fight tomorrow night in the 57kg semi-finals, are at the centre of a story filled with politics, bureaucracy, misinformation and various applications of science. Khelif has been in the world’s spotlight since her first fight last Thursday, when her opponent, Italy’s Angela Carini, .
Carini tearfully complained after the fight that Khelif’s punches were too hard. That accusation quickly sparked a global controversy, as Khelif and Lin had both failed gender classification tests administered by the International Boxing Association in 2022 and 2023. In a coincidental meeting, Khelif had beaten Suwannapheng, Tuesday night’s Olympic opponent, in the semifinals of the 2023 world championships before being disqualified by the IBA.
However, since the International Olympic Committee had severed ties with the IBA and no longer recognized it as a legitimate boxing authority, testing did not come into play when determining the female boxers’ eligibility for these Olympics. Instead, in the absence of an independent regulatory authority, the IOC determined their eligibility based on their gender. Both boxers were born female and have lived as women their entire lives, and the IOC has maintained that this is the only metric necessary to judge their qualifications.
The IBA attempted to explain the details of its tests and the logic behind them at a hastily convened press conference on Monday, but any useful information the organisation could have shared was rebuffed. The IOC, meanwhile, has insisted the matter is closed for these Games, but has allowed that the passport-based gender classification system for boxing could be reconsidered in coming years.
Khelif now moves on to the gold medal bout, scheduled for Friday night at 10:51 Paris time. Lin will fight on Wednesday night in the 57kg semi-final round. Both have claimed at least bronze medals. This story will live on for a little while longer, and so will the misinformation and abuse that have become inextricable.
