Imane Khelif has easily been the most polarizing athlete at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games. She first made headlines for forcing Italian boxer Angela Carini to quit within one minute of their match, and people quickly called for her disqualification, claiming she was transgender.
Then, after the International Olympic Committee allowed her to continue participating, she won the gold medal against another “gender row” boxer, Ling Yu-Ting, from Taiwan. This caused a chain of crazy reactions, but maybe not as surprising to the citizens of her home country.
The video shows that Khelif has just as many supporters as opponents. The caption reads, “Thousands of people in Algeria gathered in the streets to celebrate Imane Khelif’s Gold medal victory in boxing at the Olympics.”
Imane Khelif wins her first Olympic gold medal in the women’s 66kg 🏅
She won the fight by unanimous decision, winning every round on every judge’s scorecard.
It is such a deserved win after all the unjustified vitriol and hate she’s had to endure ❤️ pic.twitter.com/OpcoYGoapc
— Women Posting W’s (@womenpostingws) August 9, 2024
It’s a surprising reaction because, in Algeria, it is completely illegal to be transgender. If people there believed these rumors, then Khelif would be subject to even more criticism and possibly worse when she returned home.
However, based on the video, she will likely be met with pride and gratitude when she returns, as the controversy surrounding Khelif seemed to be the last thing on anyone’s mind.
Imane Khelif Wins First Medal In Second Career Olympic Games
Despite competing in the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, this is Khelif’s first-ever time playing well enough to win a medal.
In Tokyo, she would place fifth in the women’s lightweight bracket, just missing out on a bronze medal.
It’s unclear if Khelif plans to compete in the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles, but at just 25 years old, she should still be young enough to compete at a high level and possibly defend her gold medal.
However, with the controversy she caused this year, rules could change to exclude her from even getting a chance to compete.
