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Boxer Imani Khalif wins gold, capping off gender-focused Olympics

Broadcast United News Desk
Boxer Imani Khalif wins gold, capping off gender-focused Olympics

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PARIS (AP) — Algerian boxer Imani Khelif won gold at the Paris Olympics on Friday after a rocky Olympics in which she withstood intense scrutiny from around the world and online abuse over misconceptions about her womanhood.

Khalif capped off the best series of her boxing career with a victory as she defeated China’s Liu Yang 5-0 in the women’s welterweight final, with the crowd chanting her name, waving Algerian flags and cheering every time she threw a punch at Roland Garros.

After her unanimous victory, Khalif leapt into the arms of her coaches, one of whom lifted her onto his shoulders and carried her around the field in celebration, while Khalif clenched her fists and grabbed an Algerian flag from the crowd.

“For eight years this has been my dream and now I am an Olympic champion and a gold medalist,” Khalif said through a translator. Asked about the scrutiny, she told reporters: “These attacks also make my success taste special.”

“We as athletes participate in the Olympics to perform, and I hope we won’t see similar attacks in future Olympics,” she said.

Although Khalif faced heavy criticism in Paris from world leaders, high-profile stars and others, with some questioning her eligibility and others falsely claiming she was a man, she was warmly welcomed by fans, thrusting her into a wider divide over changing attitudes to gender identity and the rules of the sport.

The matter stems from a decision by the Russia-led International Boxing Association to disqualify Khalif and another two-time Olympian, Li Yu-ting of Taiwan, from last year’s world championships, saying both had failed a test to qualify for the women’s competition, while AIBA officials refused to answer basic questions.

“I am fully qualified to participate in this competition,” Khalif said on Friday. “I am a woman like any other woman. I was born a woman and I live a woman’s life. I am qualified.”

Last year, the International Olympic Committee took the unprecedented step of permanently banning the International Boxing Association from the Olympics after years of concerns about its governance, fairness of competition and financial transparency. The IOC said the arbitrary gender tests the sports governing body had applied to the two boxers were irreparably flawed.

The International Olympic Committee has repeatedly reiterated the two boxers’ right to compete in Paris, with president Thomas Bach personally defending Khalif and Lin and calling the criticism “hate speech.”

Khalif noted that she has been boxing in the IBA since 2018, but now “they hate me and I don’t know why.”

“I am sending them a message with this gold medal that my dignity and honor are above all else,” she said.

The AIBA’s reputation has failed to prevent international misunderstanding of the fighters, fueled by a Russian disinformation network. But it has also failed to stop two boxers who are fighting at the highest level of their careers in the spotlight.

Khalif’s dominance in Paris reached an unprecedented level: in the three fights she participated in, she won every round and according to every judge’s score, she won all of them.

Khalif’s gold medal was the first ever for Algeria in women’s boxing. She is the country’s second gold medalist in boxing, after Hosine Soltani (1996), and the seventh in Algeria’s Olympic history.

Not only in Paris, where Khalif attracted enthusiastic fans draped in flags, she became a hero in North African countries, where many viewed the world’s profiling of Khalif as a criticism of their countries.

The fight, which local newspapers dubbed the “fateful night,” was broadcast in public squares in Algiers and other cities. In the city of Tiaret, where Khalif was born, workers braved the sweltering heat to paint a mural of Khalif in the gym where he learned to box.

“Imana managed to turn the criticism and attacks on her femininity into motivation,” said Mustapha Bensaou of Tiaret Gym. “The slander made her more motivated. … It was a blessing in disguise.”

In the first round, despite Hurleff not being as aggressive as earlier in the tournament, all five judges unanimously decided Hurleff defeated Young. At the start of the second round, Hurleff used a combination of punches to force Young to the ropes, but Young responded with a series of blows and fought back tenaciously.

Hleiffe won the second round and cruised to an easy victory in the third, twisting her body like a victorious boxer in the final seconds before the fighters embraced. When the verdict was announced, Hleiffe saluted her opponent and waved her arms in joy.

At the awards ceremony, she smiled and waved to the crowd before kissing her gold medal. The four winners (two bronze medals in boxing) then posed for a photo on the podium, clasping their hands and raising them together.

The gold medal match, the culmination of Khalif’s nine-day Olympic campaign, got off to a bizarre start when his first opponent, Italian Angela Carini, quit just 46 seconds into the contest, saying Khalif’s punches were too painful.

A long-simmering story suddenly drew comments from the likes of former US President Donald Trump and Harry Potter author JK Rowling, who criticised and wrongly speculated about men competing against women in sport. Carini later said she regretted her actions and wanted to apologise to Khalif.

Khalif is performing at the Olympics in a way she has never performed in other international competitions. Last week, pundits and provocateurs who have never seen her compete described her as some kind of unstoppable boxing machine, a description that shocked opponents and teammates who knew her.

She lived up to expectations and became one of the best Olympic boxers in the world.

Lin Dan will go for gold in Saturday’s Olympic final as she faces Poland’s Julia Sheremeta in a bid to win Taiwan’s first boxing gold medal.

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