Under-fire Algerian boxer Imane Khelif beat Hungary’s Anna Luca Hamori in the women’s welterweight boxing quarterfinal of the 2024 Olympics on Saturday, as a gender eligibility row raged in the backdrop.
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Khelif dominated the three-round contest and will now face Thailand’s Janjaem Suwannapheng in the semi-final on Tuesday, August 6.
The athlete, who was born and raised as a woman, identifies as a woman and is registered as woman on her passport, has been competing at the Olympics in the face of a backlash over her participation due to suggestions that she is genetically a man.
Controversy around the boxer was further enflamed on Thursday when Italian boxer Angela Carini abandoned her boxing match against Imane Khelif just 46 seconds into the first round, citing fears for her life.
Carini, who refused to shake hands with Khelif on leaving the ring, has since apologized for her behavior towards her opponent and said she respects the International Olympic Committee’s decision to allow the Algerian boxer to fight.
A raft of high-profile names including J.K. Rowling and Elon Musk have expressed outrage on social media , suggesting Khelif is male, even though this charge has repeatedly been dismissed as false information.
Hungary’s boxing federation and Bulgaria’s Olympic Committee lodged objections with the IOC on Friday over its decision to allow Khelif to compete. Hamori also posted messages against Khelif on her social media handles prior to the match, which have been since deleted.
Bulgaria also flagged its concerns about featherweight boxer Lin Yu-ting who is also caught up in the storm. Bulgaria’s Svetlana Kamenova Staneva will face Lin on Sunday.
IOC president Thomas Bach reiterated the body’s support for Khelif in the daily press briefing in Paris on Saturday.
“We have two boxers who are born as a woman, who have been raised as a woman, who have a passport as a woman and who have competed for many years as a woman,” he said.
“This is the clear definition of a woman. There was never any doubt about them being a woman.”
Khelif and Lin have been mired in controversy ever since the International Boxing Association (IBA) disqualified her from the Women’s World Championships in New Delhi in March 2023 on gender eligibility grounds.
The IBA has never revealed details of the testing procedure or the results, but its CEO Chris Roberts has said that male XY chromosomes were detected, in both Khelif and Taiwan’s Lin Yu-ting, who was also disqualified.
The International Olympics Committee (IOC) criticized the ban saying it was based on a “sudden and arbitrary decision” and has also questioned the credibility of the IBA tests.
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The body subsequently dropped its recognition of the International Boxing Association (IBA) and has organized the 2024 Paris box contests in-house without the body’s involvement.
There have been suggestions that Khelif and Lin were born with Disorders In Sex Development (DSD), which results in people born as women having XY male chromosomes and high levels of testosterone. Neither athlete has commented on these reports.
The IBA has continued to lobby against Khelif and Lin’s participation in the 2024 Olympics.
It announced on Friday that it would award Italian boxer Carini $100,000 to make up for the prize money she had lost out on by losing to Khelif.
Bach reiterated his doubts about IBA’s actions and also expressed concerns about the online aggression and abuse fuelled by the debate.
“What we see now is that some want to own the definition of who is a woman… There I can only invite them to come up with a scientific-based, new definition of who is a woman and how can somebody being born, raised, competed and having a passport as a woman cannot be considered a woman,” he said.
“If they are coming up with something, we are ready to listen, we are ready to look into it, but we will not take part in a sometimes politically-motivated, cultural war. Allow me to say that what is going on in this context in social media with all this hate speech, with this aggression and abuse fuelled by this agenda is totally unacceptable.”
The controversy swirling around Khelif has met with consternation in Algeria.
In an interview with Reuters news agency, her father showed an official document showing Khelif’s birth date and registration as female.
“Having such a daughter is an honour because she is a champion, she honoured me and I encourage her and I hope she will get the medal in Paris,” he said.
Khelif, who hails from an impoverished background, overcame poverty, conservative social mores and sexism, to pursue her boxing dreams.
In an interview with United Nations children’s agency Unicef earlier this year, she talked about her struggles and being a role model for girls in Algeria.
“My dream is to win a gold medal. If I win, mothers and fathers can see how far their children can go. I particularly want to inspire girls and children who are disadvantaged in Algeria,” she said.
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