Algerian boxer Imane Khelif will be competing in the boxing semifinals at the Paris Olympics on Tuesday night in pursuit of an Olympic gold medal. She is set to face Janjaem Suwannapheng of Thailand at Roland Garros, the prestigious tennis complex in Paris. The victor will move on to the women’s 66-kilogram finals scheduled for Friday night.
Khelif, a seasoned Olympian, has already secured Algeria’s first-ever women’s boxing Olympic medal with the potential for claiming the nation’s second boxing gold medal. Despite comfortably winning her initial bouts in Paris, Khelif gained global attention after her first opponent, Angela Carini of Italy, stopped the fight after just 46 seconds due to the pain inflicted by Khelif’s punches. This incident sparked misconceptions and controversies around Khelif’s gender, with figures like Donald Trump and J.K. Rowling wrongly asserting that she was a man or transgender.
In an interview with SNTV, Khelif expressed how the negative attention she has received is damaging to human dignity and appealed for an end to the harassment of athletes. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) and its president, Thomas Bach, have consistently supported Khelif’s eligibility to compete in the Olympics. Both Khelif and Lin Yu-ting of Taiwan, also facing prior disqualification claims, have been defended by the IOC in light of their participation at the Paris Olympics.
Khelif and Lin had faced disqualification from the International Boxing Association during the previous year’s world championships for allegedly failing eligibility tests for the women’s competition. The association’s unclear justifications for these decisions were highlighted at a recent news conference. Lin, like Khelif, has secured a medal and progressed to the Olympic semifinals, where she is set to fight Esra Yildiz Kahraman of Turkey.
It is worth noting that Olympic boxing does not include bronze-medal matches, so both semifinal losers are awarded bronze medals. The boxing community continues to support Khelif and her quest for Olympic success amidst the scrutiny she has faced.