The Algerian boxer Imane Khelifembroiled in a gender controversy at the Paris Games, said winning Olympic gold was the perfect response to the “attacks” and “harassment” she received.
According to the criteria of
‘I was born a woman’
“I am fully qualified to participate (in the women’s Olympic tournament). I am a woman like any other. I was born a woman, I lived as a woman and I competed as a woman,” said the Algerian after her victory in the 66kg final at Roland Garros.
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Both Khelif and Taiwanese boxer Lin Yu-ting have come under fire from rivals and conservative politicians such as Donald Trump, as well as from numerous social media users, who questioned whether they are women because they failed a gender test at last year’s women’s World Cup.
Both were disqualified from the tournament by the International Boxing Association (IBA), an organization that is at odds with the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and which was denied the right to organize boxing at the Games due to ethical and transparency issues.
Imane Khelif has been boxing since she was 16 years old.
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After being congratulated by telephone by Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune, the 25-year-old boxer told beIN Sports: “I was subjected to harassment and a vicious campaign, and this is the best response to them.”
With the gold medal hanging around her neck, Khelif was asked at a packed news conference about the doubts cast over the past two weeks on her eligibility to compete in the women’s event at the Games. “They are enemies of success,” she said of her critics.
“This gives my success a special flavour because of the attacks.” After Khelif and Lin were defended by the IOC, which insisted they were fit to compete, the IBA said this week that both had been subjected last year to “genetic tests that prove they are men.” “They hate me and I don’t know why,” Khelif said of the IBA. “I sent them a message with this medal.”
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