Imane Khelif's journey from street bread seller to Olympic boxing gender controversy

The boxing match between Imane Khelif and Angela Carini is set to be one of the most contentious in Olympic history, but there's a lot more to learn about the tenacious Algerian boxer .

Carini, her Italian opponent, withdrew from the round-of-16 bout in Paris just 46 seconds in on Thursday after alleging that Khelif had thrown the hardest punch of her career. The 25-year-old could be heard telling her coach, "It's not right, it's not right", and her emotional press conference ignited a worldwide controversy, with many questioning Khelif's gender and her eligibility to compete in a women's event .

The 25-year-old boxer has been targeted by transgender sceptics like JK Rowling , who label her a 'biological man' and argue she should not compete. However, reports suggest that Khelif is a biological woman who has a rare condition known as differences in sex development (DSD), which can cause female individuals to have male chromosomes or anatomy.

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Imane, who was designated female at birth and is registered as female on her Algerian passport, stated in a previously recorded interview ahead of the Paris 2024 Olympics that she "wanted to show the whole world what a brave woman Imane Khelif is", the Irish Mirror reported.

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The International Olympic Committee (IOC), now in charge of running the boxing events at the Paris Games, has confirmed that athlete gender for the competition refers to what is on their passports. On Tuesday, spokesperson Mark Adams declared: "Everyone competing in the women's category is complying with the competition eligibility rules. They are women in their passports and it's stated that this is the case, that they are female."

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Following her controversial exclusion from last year's World Boxing Championships, Imane Khelif has spoken out. The IBA had disqualified her over a failed gender test, which wasn't a testosterone level examination but judged her to have an unfair edge over other female competitors based on a different assessment.

Further stirring debate, IBA President Umar Kremlev later explained that the tests "proved they had XY chromosomes and were thus excluded". Reflecting on her journey, Khelif expressed: "The year 2023 was very difficult for me after a great year... It was a hard blow for me but I came back stronger to show my strength and my determination and show the whole world what a brave woman Imane Khelif is."

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Khelif's journey to the top was no easy feat, with a childhood she once called "really difficult". Speaking on Canal Algerie, an Algerian TV channel, she recounted: "I come from a conservative region and family. Boxing was a sport dedicated only to men."

She shared her struggles of making ends meet, even selling bread on the streets to fund her boxing training. Khelif revealed: "These are obstacles that I encountered when I started. I happened to sell bread in the street, I collected dishes and other objects to earn money and to be able to move around because I came from a very poor family."

Yet, her passion for boxing made every hardship worthwhile. The moment she entered the ring, she was smitten with the sport.

Driven by her ambition, Imane left her small village for the city and eventually the capital, building what she calls an "impressive story" and taking immense pride in her accomplishments.

Reflecting on her unexpected career path, she expressed: "It was pure chance, I never imagined one day that I would become a boxer and that I would become world champion. I have always loved football and I played it in my little village. My father always preferred football to boxing. But I was very good at sports in my school and my teacher encouraged me to become a boxer since I had good physical qualities and he was right."

Khelif is gearing up for her shot at a dreamy gold medal, set to square off in the women's welter her weight quarter-finals this Saturday against Hungary's Anna Luca Hamori. Although Khelif previously dispatched her Italian rival with ease, her Hungarian challenger Hamori remains undaunted, boldly stating to the press: "I'm not scared. I don't care about the press story and social media. If she or he is a man, it will be a bigger victory for me if I win."

However, Olympic gold medallist Nicola Adams has expressed concern, suggesting that allowing individuals who have experienced male puberty to compete in women's events would be both "unfair and dangerous". Adams, renowned for securing flyweight gold for Team GB in both the 2012 and 2016 Olympics, shared her thoughts on Friday: "After years of fighting for women's boxing to even exist in the Olympics and then all the training they go through to get there it was hard to watch another fighter be forced to give up on her Olympic dreams."

Besides, Adams contends, "People not born as biological women, that have been through male puberty, should not be able to compete in women's sport. Not only is this unfair it's dangerous!"