After clinching a medal within the ladies’s 66kg division, Algerian boxer Imane Khelif, who has failed gender assessments, gave a short message to the naysayers.
Khelif is fighting in the women’s category practically a 12 months after the IBA stated a gender take a look at revealed the boxer had XY chromosomes.
Nonetheless, Khelif stays within the ladies’s competitors, the boxer feels, for one motive:
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Imane Khelif of Algeria is seen forward of the combat towards Angela Carini of Italy. (REUTERS/Isabel Infantes)
“I’m a lady.”
Khelif made that sentiment after defeating Hungarian boxer Anna Luca Hamori. Khelif superior to the semifinals with that victory, and since boxing would not have semifinal matches, Khelif is assured, at worst, a bronze medal.
IOC President Thomas Bach earlier Saturday defended Khelif and fellow boxer Lin Yu-ting of Taiwan. Khelif and Lin have been disqualified in the course of final 12 months’s world championships by the IBA, the previous governing physique of Olympic boxing, after what it claimed have been failed eligibility assessments.
Each had competed in IBA occasions for a number of years with out issues, and the Russian-dominated physique, which has confronted years of clashes with the IOC, has refused to offer any details about the assessments, underscoring its lack of transparency in practically each facet of its dealings, significantly in recent times.
Algeria’s Imane Khelif is proven previous to the match towards Hungary’s Anna Luca Hamori on the Paris Olympic Video games on Aug. 3, 2024. (MOHD RASFAN/AFP through Getty Photos)
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“Let’s be very clear right here: We’re speaking about ladies’s boxing,” Bach stated Saturday. “Now we have two boxers who’re born as a lady, who’ve been raised a lady, who’ve a passport as a lady, and who’ve competed for a few years as ladies. And that is the clear definition of a lady. There was by no means any doubt about them being a lady.”
The IOC has referred to as the IBA’s testing “flawed.”
Khelif’s mom, Irene, stated on Algerian tv after the bout that she was “pleased with [her] daughter” and referred to as the boxer “brave regardless of racist and sexist assaults to interrupt her.”
The controversy reached new heights when a previous opponent of Khelif, Italian Angela Carini, forfeited her match towards Khelif simply 46 seconds into their bout.
Algeria’s Imane Khelif celebrates after defeating Hungary’s Anna Hamori Luca on the Paris Olympic Video games on Aug. 3, 2024. (AP Photograph/John Locher)
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Khelif will combat for an opportunity at a gold-medal bout on Tuesday at 4:34 p.m. ET towards Thai boxer Janjaem Suwannapheng.
The Related Press contributed to this report.
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