Imane Khelif will fight for gold in the Olympic women’s 66kg class after what has been a week from hell for the Algerian boxer.
Khelif’s eligibility for the event has been endlessly called into question after the former governing body claimed she failed an unspecified gender test at the 2023 world championships.
Controversy exploded when Italian Angela Carini abandoned her first-round bout with Khelif after just 46 seconds, saying she feared for her life.
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But the International Olympic Committee has maintained its support of Khelif’s eligibility, and the steadfast Algerian has put the deafening outside noise behind her to progress through to the gold medal fight.
Khelif has won every round of her campaign so far, and again made no mistake on Wednesday morning (AEST).
She beat Thailand’s Janjaem Suwannapheng 5-0 at Roland Garros to progress through to the final.
The Algerian athlete spoke about her tumultuous Olympic experience on Sunday night in an interview with SNTV, a sports video partner of The Associated Press.
“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,” Khelif said in Arabic.
“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.”
The victories of Khelif and fellow boxer Lin Yu-ting of Taiwan in the ring in Paris have become some of the biggest stories of the Paris Games.
Both women have clinched their first Olympic medals even as they have faced online abuse based on unsubstantiated claims about their gender, drawing them into a wider divide over changing attitudes toward gender identity and regulations in sports.
The 25-year-old Khelif acknowledged her ordeal while competing in the most important event of her athletic career.
“My family … are worried about me. God willing, this crisis will culminate in a gold medal and that would be the best response,” she said.
The vitriol stems from claims by the International Boxing Association, which has been banned from the Olympics, that both Khelif and Lin failed unspecified eligibility tests for the women’s competition at last year’s world championships.
Khelif declined to answer when asked whether she had undergone tests other than doping tests.
She expressed gratitude to the International Olympic Committee and its president, Thomas Bach, for standing behind her.
“I know that the Olympic Committee has done me justice, and I am happy with this remedy because it shows the truth,” she said.
She will fight again Tuesday in the women’s 66-kilogram semifinals at Roland Garros.
Khelif says she won’t allow chatter to deter her from attempting to claim Algeria’s first Olympic gold medal in women’s boxing.
“I don’t care about anyone’s opinion,” Khelif said a day after beating Anna Luca Hamori of Hungary.
“I came here for a medal, and to compete for a medal.”