Imane Khelif wins Olympic boxing gold medal, ending trying Games with triumph

PARIS — Atop her coach’s shoulders, arms in the air, a full house at the main stadium of Roland Garros cheering her on, Imane Khelif celebrated the perfect way to end a trying week.

The Algerian boxer on Friday won the Olympic gold medal in the women’s boxing 66-kilogram (145-pound) division, beating China’s Yang Liu and ending a difficult nine-day stretch that saw her become one of the stories of the Olympics due to accusations over her gender that she described as “bullying.”

For Friday’s final, Khelif came out to a massive roar on Philippe Chatrier Court. Her fight with Yang was the final event of the night, and for the first time in these Olympics, both were facing more equal talents after breezing through their early rounds, each with the size and reach to bother the other.

But it didn’t faze Khelif, who controlled the fight from the opening bell. She won the first round 10-9 on all five scorecards, then landed a big punch early in the second round to briefly daze Yang.

Khelif mostly defended from there, picking moments to throw jabs and avoiding Yang’s increasingly frantic attempts to close the distance. After the second round, it was clear — the gold medal was hers, barring any major errors. She spent the final round avoiding that outcome. No judge awarded Yang a single round.

“I’m very happy,” Khelif said. “For eight years, this has been my dream, and I’m now the Olympic champion and gold medallist.

“I’ve worked for eight years, no sleep, eight years tired. Now I’m Olympic champion.”

The fight not only capped an eight-year run of training, but it also marked the end of a long, emotional Olympic saga for Khelif that started Aug. 1, when she beat her first opponent of these Games, Italy’s Angela Carini, in just 46 seconds after Carini withdrew from the bout citing hard punches. The finish brought renewed attention to the still-shrouded circumstances behind Khelif’s disqualification from the 2023 world championships.

The International Boxing Association, which runs the world championships, ruled Khelif and another fighter, Taiwan’s Lin Yu-ting, could not continue in the tournament after they said that tests had shown them to have “competitive advantages over other female competitors.”

The IOC has questioned the process of the tests and maintained support of Khelif and Lin, who were assigned female at birth and have always competed in women’s divisions. The IBA has not further explained its decision, and even confused things further Monday as officials made contradictory descriptions of the tests while saying they could not reveal the results.

Khelif, speaking in Arabic in an interview published this week by The Associated Press and its video partner SNTV, said she felt her best response to the “fierce campaign” against her was to win a gold medal.

“This thing has effects, massive effects. It can destroy people, it can kill people’s thoughts, spirit, and mind,” she said. “And it can divide people. And because of that, I ask them to refrain from bullying.”

Lin will fight for gold here Saturday in the women’s 57 kg division.

After beating Carini, Khelif faced Hungary’s Anna Luca Hamori in the quarterfinals last Saturday, with Khelif dominating the fight and winning on points by unanimous decision. Before the match, Hamori had posted, then deleted, disparaging social media posts about Khelif. All looked cordial between Khelif and Hamori during the fight, but after the loss, Hamori’s camp did not squash the controversy.

On Tuesday, Khelif was in the semifinals against Thailand’s Janjaem Suwannapheng, who was the benefactor of Khelif’s disqualification from the 2023 worlds, advancing to the final despite losing to Khelif in the semis. Khelif also won Tuesday’s fight on points by unanimous decision, just as she had at worlds before the DQ.

The winner of that welterweight tournament at worlds? That would be Yang, the now-32-year-old who was the top seed in this weight class. But with Khelif in the mix, Yang settled for silver this time. Suwannapheng and Taiwan’s Chen Nien-chin took bronze.

By the time the medal ceremony began, hundreds of Algerian supporters had made their way to the front rows. Khelif was greeted with chants of “Imane! Imane! Imane!” as she took her spot on the podium in the center of the ring. As the Algerian national anthem played, a beaming Khelif sang along with the crowd. Long after the stadium had cleared out, her fans could still be heard reveling outside on the concourse.

Khelif’s story has rallied her supporters, who have appeared in large numbers all week to cheer her on, both at Roland Garros and clear across town at the North Paris Arena, where boxing’s early rounds were held. She was met with loud cheers and an arena full of Algerian flags every night as she fought for her country’s seventh gold medal all time.

“I want to thank all the people who have come to support me,” she said Friday. “All the people from Algeria and all the people at my base. I want to thank all the team, my coach. Thank you so much.”

Minutes earlier, she had already thanked them in the most golden of ways.

This article originally appeared in The Athletic.