IMANE KHELIF showed great humility towards her beaten opponent before launching into an exuberant celebration.
The Algerian, 25, produced a dominant display to defeat Janjaem Suwannapheng via a unanimous decision, booking her place in Friday’s women’s 66kg final.
Khelif has been the subject of plenty of controversy during the Olympics, with the International Boxing Association (IBA) and International Olympic Committee (IOC) squabbling over whether she should be eligible.
The dominant star is claimed to have failed a gender test sanctioned by the Russian-led IBA last year, which saw her disqualified from the World Championships in New Delhi.
But the IBA are no longer recognised as boxing‘s world governing body, with the IOC rubbishing their gender tests.
Khelif comfortably dispatched of Angela Carini and Luca Anna Hamori to reach the last four.
She then easily saw off Thailand’s Suwannapheng.
Following her points triumph, Khelif initially kept a lid on her celebrations.
She even showed humility to sit on the ropes in order to allow Suwannapheng a moment to receive warm applause from the crowd.
Only when Suwannapheng had departed, did she let off some steam.
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Khelif danced and jived across the ring in pure joy.
She has now guaranteed herself at least a silver medal in Paris.
And she will take on China’s Yang Liu for the gold.
Ahead of her semi-final win, Khelif hit out at her critics, having received a barrage of abuse following her win over Carini.
She said: “I send a message to all the people of the world to uphold the Olympic principles and the Olympic Charter, to refrain from bullying all athletes, because this has effects, massive effects.
“It can destroy people, it can kill people’s thoughts, spirit and mind. It can divide people.
“And because of that, I ask them to refrain from bullying.”
She then added: “I am in contact with my family two days a week. I hope that they weren’t affected deeply.
“They are worried about me. God willing, this crisis will culminate in a gold medal, and that would be the best response.”
