In Paris, enthusiastic crowds have warmly welcomed Khelif, expressing their support by singing her name, waving Algerian flags, and erupting in cheers each time she successfully lands a punch.Imane Khelif, an Algerian boxer, had a remarkable victory by winning a gold medal in the Paris Olympics. Throughout her challenging journey at the Games, she faced great scrutiny in the boxing ring and received online hatred from people worldwide due to misunderstandings about her gender.Khelif was victorious in the final of the women’s welterweight division, defeating Yang Liu of China with a score of 5:0. This win marked the culmination of Khelif’s most impressive set of fights in her boxing career. The atmosphere at Roland Garros was electrifying, with audiences enthusiastically chanting her name, waving Algerian flags, and erupting in cheers each time she landed a punch.
Following her resounding victory, Khelif enthusiastically embraced her coaches, with one of them hoisting her onto his shoulders and parading her around the stadium in a celebratory circuit. She exuberantly raised her clenched fists and seized an Algerian flag from a member of the audience.The enthusiastic supporters have wholeheartedly supported Khelif during her participation in Paris, despite facing significant scrutiny from global leaders, prominent celebrities, and others who have raised doubts about her eligibility or spread false allegations that she is male. It has propelled her into a broader conflict regarding shifting perspectives on gender identification and laws in sports.Khelif told SNTV, a sports video partner of The Associated Press, this weekend that the flood of harsh scrutiny she has received “harms human dignity,” and she called for an end to harassing athletes. She also suggested a gold medal would be “the best response” to the uproar against her.
It originates from the Russian-dominated International Boxing Association’s decision to reject Khelif and fellow two-time Olympian Li Yu-ting of Taiwan from last year’s world championships, alleging both failed a confusing eligibility test for women’s sport.Last year, the International Olympic Committee made the extraordinary decision to permanently ban the International Boxing Association (IBA) from the Olympics. This action was taken due to longstanding concerns about the IBA’s governance, competition fairness, and financial transparency. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has criticized the sex tests conducted by the sport’s regulatory body on the two boxers, stating that they are fundamentally faulty and cannot be rectified.
The IOC has consistently maintained the two boxers’ right to fight in Paris, with President Thomas Bach personally defending Khelif and Lin while labeling the comments “hate speech.””We have two female boxers who were born biologically female, raised as females, possess a female passport, and have competed as females for many years,” Bach stated.That hasn’t halted the international uproar connected to misinformation regarding the fighters that has been exacerbated by Russian disinformation networks. It also hasn’t halted two boxers who have performed at the top levels of their careers while under the spotlight’s glare.
Khelif’s gold medal is Algeria’s first in women’s boxing. She is only the nation’s second boxing gold medalist, joining Hocine Soltani (1996). Hundreds of flag-clad, noise-making fans of Khelif swarmed the streets through the iconic Roland Garros tennis complex in Paris and packed the stands, chanting, cheering and waving Algerian flags. Khelif also has become a hero across her North African homeland where many admirers have perceived the world’s dissection of Khelif as criticism of their nation.Carini later said she regretted her conduct and sought to apologize to Khelif. The Italian publication La Stampa highlighted Carini’s attitude in the days preceding up to the event, revealing pressure from both inside and outside her squad to postpone the fight given the rising suspicion surrounding Khelif’s status. Khelif has never done as well in another international competition as she did in these Olympics. When she was depicted as some sort of unstoppable punching machine last week by pundits and provocateurs who had never seen her fight before, opponents and colleagues who know her were stunned by the characterization.
Then she lived up to the notion of being one of the top Olympic boxers in the world.
The banished governing body for boxing did nothing to help its argument about her disqualification at the world championships last year during a shambolic news conference in which its leadership contradicted itself about the tests and declined to answer basic questions about them, citing privacy concerns from the Olympic committees of Algeria and Taiwan.
Lin also fights for a gold medal Saturday on the last card of the Olympics. She takes fight Julia Szeremeta of Poland with a chance to capture Taiwan’s first boxing gold.
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