THE most controversial gold medalist of these Olympic Games was confirmed as gender-row boxer Imane Khelif won the women’s welterweight title at Roland Garros.
Algerian Khelif has been at the centre of global culture war since her Italian opponent Angela Carini retired after just 46 seconds of their first-round bout, claiming she had never been punched so hard.
After an online pile-on from Donald Trump, JK Rowling and millions of others, Khelif has been crowned an Olympic champion by defeating China’s Yang Liu in the final.
Amid huge Algerian support and immense international antagonism on Court Philippe Chatrier – the iconic tennis court transformed into a boxing venue for the latter stages of the Games – the 25-year-old comprehensively outmuscled her opponent.
Along with Taiwanese fighter Lin Yu-ting, Khelif was disqualified from last year’s World Championships after failing a gender test.
But with the IBA amateur-boxing governing body no longer recognised by the IOC, both were cleared to compete in Paris – and both have reached finals, with Lin taking on Julia Szeremeta of Poland in her final.
Khelif, whose participation has made for an uncomfortable freak show, has been the target of misguided transphobia – she was born a woman and is believed to possess male XY chromosomes and an excess of testosterone.
A press conference held by the Russian-led IBA earlier this week added to the criticism – while the IOC denounced a ‘witch-hunt’ against her, with its president calling for an end to ‘hate speech’.
Khelif herself demanded the end to a campaign of ‘bullying’ against her in an interview earlier in the week.
The Algerian, who has been defeated by nine women during her career, beat Hungarian Anna Luca Hamori in the quarter-finals and Thailand’s Janjaem Suwannapheng in the semis with little fuss.
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Khelif emerged to roof-raising cheers from Algerian fans who dominated the audience to drown out any dissent against her, with her opponent booed.
And after a cagey start, she was soon overpowering Yang, pinning her back on the ropes with one rapid combination as she won the opening round unanimously.
The second was more even with Yang trading blows but Khelif clearly possessed the greater clout and she won the judges’ verdict again.
And Khelif began showboating before the final bell as her delirious fans celebrated their country’s second gold of the Games.
A look at the full statement issued by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the Paris 2024 Boxing Unit...
Every person has the right to practise sport without discrimination.
All athletes participating in the boxing tournament of the Olympic Games Paris 2024 comply with the competition’s eligibility and entry regulations, as well as all applicable medical regulations set by the Paris 2024 Boxing Unit (PBU). As with previous Olympic boxing competitions, the gender and age of the athletes are based on their passport.
These rules also applied during the qualification period, including the boxing tournaments of the 2023 European Games, Asian Games, Pan American Games and Pacific Games, the ad hoc 2023 African qualifying tournament in Dakar (SEN) and two world qualifying tournaments held in Busto Arsizio (ITA) and Bangkok (THA) in 2024, which involved a total of 1,471 different boxers from 172 National Olympic Committees (NOCs), the Boxing Refugee Team and Individual Neutral Athletes, and featured over 2,000 qualification bouts.
The PBU used the Tokyo 2020 boxing rules as a baseline to develop its regulations for Paris 2024. This was to minimise the impact on athletes’ preparations and guarantee consistency between Olympic Games. These Tokyo 2020 rules were based on the post-Rio 2016 rules, which were in place before the suspension of the boxing International Federation by the IOC in 2019 and the subsequent withdrawal of its recognition in 2023.
We have seen in reports misleading information about two female athletes competing at the Olympic Games Paris 2024. The two athletes have been competing in international boxing competitions for many years in the women’s category, including the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020, International Boxing Association (IBA) World Championships and IBA-sanctioned tournaments.
These two athletes were the victims of a sudden and arbitrary decision by the IBA. Towards the end of the IBA World Championships in 2023, they were suddenly disqualified without any due process.
According to the IBA minutes available on their website, this decision was initially taken solely by the IBA Secretary General and CEO. The IBA Board only ratified it afterwards and only subsequently requested that a procedure to follow in similar cases in the future be established and reflected in the IBA Regulations. The minutes also say that the IBA should “establish a clear procedure on gender testing”.
The current aggression against these two athletes is based entirely on this arbitrary decision, which was taken without any proper procedure – especially considering that these athletes had been competing in top-level competition for many years.
Such an approach is contrary to good governance.
Eligibility rules should not be changed during ongoing competition, and any rule change must follow appropriate processes and should be based on scientific evidence.
The IOC is committed to protecting the human rights of all athletes participating in the Olympic Games as per the Olympic Charter, the IOC Code of Ethics and the IOC Strategic Framework on Human Rights. The IOC is saddened by the abuse that the two athletes are currently receiving.
The IBA’s recognition was withdrawn by the IOC in 2023 following its suspension in 2019. The withdrawal of recognition was confirmed by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS). See the IOC’s statement following the ruling.
The IOC has made it clear that it needs National Boxing Federations to reach a consensus around a new International Federation in order for boxing to be included on the sports programme of the Olympic Games LA28.
