Women’s welterweight boxer Imane Khelief is on the verge of winning her first Olympic gold medal and giving Algeria its seventh first-place prize in 60 years. Yet that story has receded into a hail of moral controversy and misinformation.
Caliph Defeated Italian boxer Angela Carini In her first-round matchup to advance to the women’s welterweight boxing quarterfinals at the 2024 Paris Olympics. Carini’s pained response to Khalif’s strike and 46-second concession sparked intense rhetoric surrounding the 25-year-old. Conversations ranged from malicious or misinformed claims that Khalifa is a man, to brief discussions about how genetics affects athletics.
Khalif will fight for the gold medal against China’s Yang Liu on Friday. With that in mind, let’s get to know the fighter from Algeria a bit more as his name returns to the headlines.
A woman’s plight
Khalifa has always competed in women’s events, including the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. There is no indication that she has been identified as anything other than female since birth. Her father, Omar Khalif, defended his daughter by showing what he claimed was her birth certificate to a French TV station. BFMTV.
Algeria’s Olympic Committee strongly condemned the “immoral targeting and malice” of Khalif.
Algeria does not recognize the laws of LGBTQ+ individuals. It is unlikely that the Algerian government will allow someone who is heterosexual and identifies as something other than their assigned gender to represent the country on the world stage.
Gender debate and eligibility criteria
Much of the talk has been generated by Khelief’s ineligibility to compete under the International Boxing Association, a sanctioning body banned by the Olympics from 2019. The IBA disqualified Khilaif and Chinese Taipei’s Lin Yu-ting after conducting inconclusive gender tests. Subsequently, IBA president Umar Kremlev alleged that the test had revealed the presence of an XY chromosome. An IBA statement released on July 31 said, “Testosterone was not tested but was the subject of a separate and recognized test, which would result in absolute confidentiality.”
During a press conference held by the IBA on Monday, the organization changed its explanation, now citing testosterone levels as a factor. “These tests (sic) show that they have high levels of testosterone,” Kremlev said. “Like men. They also have male testosterone levels. We can’t go any further in our investigation — whether they were born as men, or whether some change intervened at a later stage.”
“These tests are not legitimate tests,” International Olympic Committee spokesman Mark Adams told a news conference on Sunday. “The tests themselves, the process of testing, the ad hoc nature of testing are not valid.
“Tests, test methods, test concepts that happened overnight. None of it is valid and it deserves no response.”
Khalif competed in IBA-sanctioned events prior to 2023 without issue. The IBA disqualified Khilaif after her defeat of Russian boxer Azalea Amineva in 2023 raised questions about the IBA’s ethics. The IBA is controlled by Umar Kremlin, a Russian who brought in state-owned energy supplier Gazprom as its primary sponsor and moved most of the governing body’s operations to Russia.
“While the IBA is committed to ensuring competitive fairness in all our events, we are concerned about the inconsistent application of eligibility criteria by other sporting bodies, including those overseeing the Olympic Games,” the IBA said in a statement. published 31 July. “The IOC’s different rules on this matter, where the IBA is not involved, raise serious questions about both competitive fairness and athlete safety.”
The IOC previously stripped the IBA of its status as the global governing body for boxing due to governance issues and a judging scandal. The Paris Boxing Unit, an ad-hoc unit, was used to organize this year’s Olympic tournament Khalif was cleared to compete in part because her passport identifies her as a woman and she has a medical clearance.
“I would just say that everyone competing in the women’s division is following the eligibility rules,” Adams said. “They are women in their passports.
“These athletes have competed many times before over the years. They didn’t just come out of nowhere.”
His boxing record
Khalif is primarily an amateur boxer with a record of 41-9 with 6 KOs. She made her major tournament debut at the 2018 AIBA Women’s World Boxing Championships, now the IBA. Khalif was eliminated in the first round of both the 2018 and 2019 lightweight tournaments. Khalif was the first female boxer to represent Algeria at the Olympics when she competed at the 2020 Tokyo Games, losing to Ireland’s gold medalist Kelly Harrington in the women’s lightweight quarterfinals. Khelief has had more success in the higher weight classes, finishing as runner-up behind Ireland’s Amy Broadhurst at junior welterweight at the 2022 IBA Women’s World Boxing Championships. In November 2023, Khalif fought professionally, defeating Suwanun Antanai via third-round TKO.
Success in this year’s Olympics
Khalif’s stoppage victory over Carini at the 2024 Paris Olympics put him in the crosshairs of public opinion. Khalif and Carini received byes in the women’s welterweight round of 16 Khelief later defeated Hungary’s Haromi and Thailand’s Janjaem Suwannafeng on points to advance to Friday’s gold medal match against China’s Liu Yang.
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