BOXER Imane Khelif, who is at the centre of a gender row at the Olympic Games, has opened up about her tough childhood.
The Algerian, 25, gave Italian opponent Angela Carini a suspected broken nose and made her quit in 46 seconds on Thursday.
And she has revealed she sold bread on the streets and grew up in a “conservative” environment which insisted boxing was only for men.
Following Khelif‘s win, Carini was heard telling her corner “It’s not fair,” before she collapsed to her knees in tears and refused to shake her opponent’s hand.
Carini also later claimed she had thrown in the towel to “save my life”.
But it is the background behind the fight where the real controversy stems from.
Last year, Khelif was banned by the International Boxing Association from competing in the world championships after failing to meet the “eligibility criteria” for participating in women’s competition due to elevated levels of testosterone.
As a result, her inclusion in the Olympic Games was always going to divide opinion – a row that intensified due to the manner of her win in the round of 16.
Khelif is now setting her sights on winning a medal in Paris as she prepares for her quarter-final bout against Hungary’s Hamori Anna Luca.
And it would be a remarkable journey given the humble beginnings she came from back in Algeria.
In an unearthed interview with Canal Algerie, Khelif revealed she sold bread on the street, while pictures of her as a young girl were also shown.
Explaining how she first got into the sport, she said: “I have always loved football and I played it in my little village. My father always preferred football to boxing.
“But I was very good at sports in my school and my teacher encouraged me to become a boxer since I had good physical qualities and he was right.”
She also went on to add: “I come from a conservative region and family. Boxing was a sport dedicated only to men.”
It was not a straightforward path into boxing as Khelif was forced to come up with the money to get her to the gym.
She sold bread on the streets and collected dishes to allow her to travel from her village to the town where she boxed.
Khelif added: “These are obstacles that I encountered when I started.
“I happened to sell bread in the street, I collected dishes and other objects to earn money and to be able to move around because I came from a very poor family.”
Those tough times have continued as an adult, most notably at the world championships last year.
Prior to her gold medal bout against China’s Yang Liu, she was disqualified for elevated levels of testosterone.
She said: “The year 2023 was very difficult for me after a great year.
“It was a hard blow for me but I came back stronger to show my strength and my determination and show the whole world what a brave woman Imane Khelif is.”
But many will still side against Khelif in the Olympics gender row despite her tough journey into the sport.
This is a more complicated case than the barrage of shameful transgender scandals which have engulfed women’s sport in recent years.
Khelif reportedly has a condition called Swyer Syndrome which means she has some female reproductive organs but also much higher levels of testosterone than women.
As a result, she has a superior physicality to females, which can be seen by her tall, powerful frame.
In other words, she has an unfair advantage.
And that’s why there’s been such a furious response, led by JK Rowling, Elon Musk, and Martina Navratilova, to the footage of Carini quitting after being smashed in the face.
The obvious, indisputable, medical, and scientific, truth is that someone born with male biology of any kind has an obvious physical advantage over biological females.
That’s why we keep the sexes apart in the Olympics.
Otherwise, women would barely win a single medal.
To pretend otherwise is to be either utterly deluded or wilfully dishonest.
Carini cut a devastated figure after withdrawing from from her bout with the Algerian and had some emotional words in her post-fight interview.
She said: “I entered the ring and I told myself I have to take out all of myself independently from the person I had in front of me.
“And honestly, I don’t care. I said to myself, ‘This is my Olympics’. Independently, from all controversy, I just wanted to carry on and win.’
“I am not one that easily surrenders. Even if they told me, let’s not fight, I would not have accepted it.
“I am a fighter. My father taught me to be a warrior. When I am in the ring, I use that mindset, the mindset of a warrior, a winning mindset. This time I couldn’t make it.
“You all saw my nose that started bleeding. I didn’t lose tonight, I just surrendered with maturity.
“I wish her to carry on until the end and that she can be happy. I am someone who doesn’t judge anyone. I am not here to give judgements.
“I simply entered the ring to fight and to fight for my dream. It didn’t happen. Evidently, God and my father wanted this and I accept it.
“I am not in the position of saying this is right or wrong. I am not. I did my job as a boxer, entering the ring and fighting. I didn’t manage to, but I am exiting with my head held high and with a broken heart.
“I am a mature woman, the ring is my life. I’ve always been very instinctive, but when I feel something is not going well, it’s not a surrender but having the maturity to stop.”
