Imane Khelif hatte im Ring getanzt. Nach dem Kampf. Sie hatten Imane Khelif auf Schultern über den Platz des Court Philippe Chatrier auf der Anlage Roland Garros getragen. Einmal rund herum um den Boxring, in dem die Algerierin gerade Yang Liu aus China besiegt hatte, nach einstimmiger Punktentscheidung. Imane Khelif hatte Hände geschüttelt und Menschen geherzt, zuallererst ihre Trainer, als diese wieder gelandet waren nach ihren Freudensprüngen.
Imane Khelif hatte die Siegerehrung hinter sich gebracht. Es klang, als hätte nahezu jeder Mann und jede Frau in diesem Stadion die „Qassaman“ mitgesungen, die Hymne Algeriens. Imane Khelif hatte sie mitgesungen, selbstverständlich. Es ist ein Lied des Widerstands und des Kampfs, gegen Frankreich, in dessen Herzen sie nun feierten: „Und wir beschlossen, dass Algerien leben soll. So sollt ihr bezeugen! So sollt ihr bezeugen! So sollt ihr bezeugen!“
Sie bezeugten, zu Tausenden, in Fußballtrikots und grün-weißen Flaggen mit rotem Halbmond. Vor der Anlage hatte die Polizei mit robustem Einsatz eine Stunde vor dem Kampf jene heimgeschickt, die keine Karte hatten. Doch nach Hause gingen die wenigsten.
„Voll berechtigt, hier anzutreten“
Noch Stunden nach dem Kampf standen die, die weggeschickt worden waren und jene, die es drinnen erlebt hatten, rund um die Porte d’Auteuil am Bois de Boulogne und sangen und feierten. Und die Fahrer in ihren Autos hupten, wenn auch sie bezeugen wollten, dass Imane Khelif tatsächlich Olympiasiegerin geworden war. Dass Algerien Grund zu feiern hatte. Es waren nicht wenige. Die Nacht von Freitag auf Samstag war eine Nacht der algerischen Selbstvergewisserung in Frankreichs Hauptstadt.
And even if the complex relationship between France and Algeria, strained by the murderous violence of the past, has played no role in the treatment of Imane Khelif over the past ten days, this is still very remarkable.
In the basement, in the press rooms of the Court Philippe Chatrier, that very French institution, Imane Khelif testified. Nine days lay between the first fight against the Italian Angela Carini on August 1st and the Olympic victory. Nine days in which her fate, the doubts about her, the doubts about her eligibility to compete, the doubts about her female identity, the doubts about her gender, moved the Olympic world.
Imane Khelif was sitting on the podium, it was approaching one o’clock in the morning. Day 14 of these games turned into day 15. Everyone was dead tired, everyone was wide awake. Imane Khelif spoke calmly, clearly. More awake than everyone else. When asked in French by a French reporter, the 25-year-old said in English that she would only answer in Arabic because her French was bad. Imane Khelif had prepared for these games with Pedro Diaz in Miami. “He led 21 boxers to Olympic gold medals. Now there are 22.”
But other questions were more important to the reporters, other messages were more important to Imane Khelif: “Whether I am entitled or not to take part in this competition, whether I am a woman or not, I have said several times. I am fully entitled to compete here. I am a woman like any other woman. I was born a woman, I lived as a woman, I competed as a woman. There is no doubt about that at all. There are enemies of my success. That is what I call them. And my success is given a special flavor by these attacks.”
“A question of justice”
She hopes that the bullying will stop and that people will remember “the Olympic Charter, the Olympic values.” “We take part in the Olympic Games to compete as athletes, to compete for our spectators, our families. Hopefully there will be no more attacks like this at future Games.”
The International Boxing Association (IBA) has excluded and disqualified Imane Khelif and the Taiwanese Lin Yu-Ting, who will fight for gold this Saturday against the Polish Julia Szeremeta, from their world championship in spring 2023 on the basis of tests that have not yet been qualified. The press conference organized by the IBA on Monday and marked by hate speeches by its president Umar Kremlev will remain a lasting impression of these games, as will the joy of the Algerians and their athlete on Saturday night.
It is not possible, Bach later added, to make decisions by looking at someone and saying: that is a man, or to “become the victim of a defamation campaign by an untrustworthy organisation with highly political interests”.
IBA wants to keep the topic alive
Bach did not go to the award ceremony himself; he was breakdancing. That was done by the Algerian IOC member Mustafa Berraf, who observers of the scene remember as the man who was the first to speak in Mumbai last October, and who read from the paper that he was growing more and more keen for Bach to remain IOC President beyond a second term.
While the press conference was still going on, the Russian-controlled IBA sent out the next press release in the hope of keeping the issue alive. No matter how much this association discredited itself during the days in Paris, the different ways in which international associations and the IOC deal with women with a 46-XY-dsd disposition will continue to be a key issue in international sports policy.
Imane Khelif nevertheless closed a chapter on that Algerian night. “Yes, my honor is now intact. But the attacks I have seen on social media are extremely bad and meaningless and they have an impact on people’s dignity. I do think that the mindset has changed. The IBA has known me since 2018, since then I have fought in their competitions. They know my years of development. Now they no longer recognize me and hate me. I don’t know why. With this gold medal I am sending a single message: my dignity and my honor are above all else.”
#Boxer #Imame #Khelif #Olympics #honour #intact