Imane Khelif – the name of the Algerian boxer became extremely popular during the Olympic Games in Paris. Unfortunately, not because the Algerian confidently defeated her rivals in the 66 kilogram category, but because of the controversy regarding her gender. All thanks to disqualification just before the final of last year's world championships, in which she was to fight… with Friday's rival – Chinese Yang Liu.
Khelif, like Lin Yu-ting from Taiwan, allegedly failed an unspecified “gender test” imposed on her by the world federation IBA. Its head, supported by Gazprom and Vladimir Putin Umar Kremlov claimed that male chromosomes were detected in the bodies of Khelif and Lin. The problem is that his words are the only “evidence” in the whole case, and the “tests” were performed right after Khelif dealt with the undefeated hope of Russian boxing, Azalia Amineva. The IOC, of ​​course, did not recognize these “tests” and allowed both boxers to compete in the Olympic Games, which did not please all of their rivals.
Imane Khelif confidently defeated Hungarian Anna Luca Hamori and Thai Janjaem Suwannapheng in Paris, while her first opponent, Italian Angela Carini, resigned in the first round, blaming everything on the controversy surrounding the Algerian.
Imane Khelif with Olympic gold. She gave her final rival no chance
Also in final with the world champion Yang Liu Khelif left no doubt. She was clearly better than the Chinese woman in all three rounds. Edward Durda, commentating on the final fight in Eurosport, repeatedly emphasized the huge advantage of the Algerian, who won each of the rounds with all five judges. She won 30:27 on all scorecards and won the Olympic gold in great style.
After the fight and the verdict, Khelif did a happy dance and then behaved nicely towards the Chinese, recognizing her class and raising her hand. There was no visible conflict between the competitors, even though it was Yang Liu who won the world championship in New Delhi a year ago, taking advantage of the Algerian's disqualification.
On Saturday, Julia will fight for gold in the 57-kilogram category. Sheremeta. At 9:30 p.m. Shelf will face Lin Yu-ting from Taiwan.