Imane Khelif beats China’s Yang Liu to become the first Algerian, Arab and African woman to win an Olympic boxing gold medal at the Paris Games.
The 25-year-old dominated the three-round welterweight fight and was announced the winner in a unanimous decision by the judges at the Rolland-Garros Stadium in the French capital on Friday night.
“It was my dream [to win this medal] and I am very happy today that I’m an Olympic gold medallist,” Khelif told the BBC after winning the fight.
“Eight years of hard work, eight years of [being] too tired, eight years of no sleep – [this is] fantastic,” she added.
The Algerian has been facing hate campaign for days ever since her opponent in the first competition, Angela Carini of Italy, tearfully abandoned their bout after just 46 seconds. She has faced online trolling, was booed by fans in the stadium and was targetted in certain sections of the media.
Italy’s Angela Carini forfeit just 46 seconds into the women’s 66kg boxing match, gifting a wonderful victory to Imane Khelif. Carini bursts into tears after, stating that she had never been hit so hard in her life. Her tears wreaked havoc on social media, with many, including celebrities, coming out in support of her, and hurling baseless accusations against Khelif while questioning her gender.
Imane’s next competitor Luca Anna Hamori reposted a series of derogatory posts ahead of their fight on Instagram, including an AI generated image of a fragile-feminine figure facing a muscular devil in the ring, an apparent insult to her competitor. This insult only added to her own injury, Imane won against her at the quarterfinals.
Following the drama, the governing body of the Olympic Games, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) reaffirmed that the athlete met the established eligibility criteria for the boxing competition, and strongly condemned the abuse met by Khelif.
