Few Olympic athletes have inspired more admiration, scorn, and curiosity than Khelif, 25, and Taiwan’s Lin Yu-ting, 28, who fights for gold on Saturday in the 57 kg weight class who have been subjected to a stream of gender speculation
On paper the Olympic record will show that Algeria’s Imane Khelif won the gold medal in the 66 kg weight class on Friday, defeating 32-year-old Yang Liu of China in a unanimous decision.
Just the fact that the IBA disqualified both boxers from the 2023 world championships and alleged they’d failed gender tests was enough to cause a social media firestorm. IOC President Thomas Bach reiterated his support for the athletes on Friday and he dismissed questions about whether the IOC’s eligibility requirements for female athletes were up to date. Bach insisted the IOC’s system has been working well since 1999 “and therefore our decision is very clear, women must be allowed to take part in women’s competitions.”
Since the Games began, Khelif and her family have been peppered with humiliating questions about her sex. “My child is a girl,” her father Omar Khelif told reporters this week as he displayed photographs of her as a child. “She was raised as a girl. She is a strong girl. I raised her to work and be brave.”
She caught the attention of Algeria’s national boxing team in 2018. They entered her in the Women’s World Championships in 2018 and 2019 but she lost in the first round both times. Two years later, she fought in the Tokyo Olympics and finished fifth .
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