Imane Khelif wins boxing quarterfinal bout, guaranteed medal amid Olympics gender controversy

Imane Khelif is moving on, and one of the biggest controversies at the Paris Olympics isn’t going away anytime soon.

Khelif, the Algerian women’s boxer whose gender eligibility has become a source of dispute between the International Olympics Committee, the International Boxing Association and seemingly every person with an opinion, beat Hungary’s Anna Luca Hamori by unanimous decision in Saturday’s welterweight quarterfinal bout.

Khelif is assured of an Olympic medal after a 5-0 points count that was indicative of the one-sided fight.

The two boxers embraced hands at the end in a show of respect before Khelif turned to face the crowd and salute fans who were waving Algerian flags.

There are two bronze medals awarded to the two losing semifinalists in Olympic women’s boxing.

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Khelif was disqualified at the 2023 world championships “after her elevated levels of testosterone failed to meet the eligibility criteria,” according to the IOC database.

Taiwan’s Lin Yu-ting was in the same position .

The IOC cited identification as female on their passports as the standard to meet for Khelif and Yu-ting. The Russia-controlled IBA sanctions the world championships and uses different standards. The two governing bodies split off last year.

Khelif and Yu-ting had competed in women’s boxing for years prior to her 2023 disqualifications, which reportedly led Khelif to claim that the decision was part of a “conspiracy.”

Hamori, the first Hungarian boxer in the Olympics, was undaunted by it all after the match.

“I’m so proud of myself, because I had to fight, and I like to fight,” Hamori said. “This was a hard fight, but I think I got to do everything I wanted for the fight, and I think in this fight, I’m so proud of myself, and I’m so grateful to be here. This was really a childhood dream.”

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IOC president Thomas Bach pushed back Saturday against the “hate speech” aimed at Khelif and Yu-ting and said concerns about a potentially unlevel gender-related playing field are “totally unacceptable.”

“We have two boxers who were born as women, who have been raised as women, who have a passport as a woman, and who have competed for many years as women,” Bach said, according to reports.

Khelif’s forceful punches in the round-of-16 caused Italy’s Angela Carini to quit just 46 seconds into their preliminary match and then refuse the common practice to shake her opponent’s hand.

“We, Hungarians, are always ready to fight bravely, and fiercely, and that’s what Luca has just done and showed us,” Hungarian IOC member Balazs Furjes said. “Of course, the Paris box competitions have their consequences. These consequences must be carefully evaluated after the games.”

Carini, who could be awarded $50,000 by the IBA , later apologized to Khelif for sparking the controversy, claiming she was “angry because my Games had already gone up in smoke” during an interview with Gazetta dello Sport of Italy.

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“I’m not scared,” Hamori told reporters. “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.”

But it’s Khelif who claimed a medal because of a consistently effective jab over the nine-minute bout.

She survived a one point deduction for holding – the two entangled boxers fell to the ground twice during the third round – and seemed to wipe tears from her eyes as her team led her away from the ring.

Next up for Khelif is a semifinal match against Thailand’s Janjaem Suwannapheng.

Khelif’s father, Amar, told Reuters that the attacks is daughter is facing are “immoral” and “not fair.”

“What we see now is that some want to own the definition of who is a woman,” Bach said. “There I can only invite them to come up with a scientific-based, new definition of who is a woman. … 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.”

— with AP

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