Algerian boxer Imane Khelif won the gold medal in the 66-kg class in women’s Olympic boxing in Paris. At the same time, she also helped Team USA.
With her win over Yang Liu of China, Khelif triumphed over people who falsely claimed she was a man or transgender, all because of an alleged gender test that the International Boxing Assn. failed to produce or substantiate.
Her win also left China tied with the U.S. with 40 gold medals, the metric the International Olympic Committee uses to determine the country that wins the medal count. With both tied, the next metric is total medals, which the U.S. won over China, 126-91. Team USA is forever No. 1 in the Paris Olympics count.
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Imane Khelif crowned Olympic boxing champion as IOC president slams ‘defamation campaign’
Algeria’s Imane Khelif stood tall and defiant amid a raucous Paris crowd as she secured welterweight gold.
By Brian C. Bell | August 9, 2024
It’s ironic that Khelif wound up helping the U.S. at the Games when it was the U.S.-based social media company X that helped fuel the lies and ugly attacks on her from the like of J.K. Rowling and Donald Trump and many others who enjoyed displaying their transphobia toward a cisgender woman who didn’t conform to their notion of gender.
Khelif has certainly risen above the controversy, having had a decided hometown advantage in Paris from pro-Algerian crowds (Algeria was once a French colony) that cheered her on once the hate and vitriol ramped up. Back in Algeria on Monday, she was greeted warmly, telling a crowd: “It’s a dream I had for eight years. We did our best to represent Algeria.”
She also played a role in the U.S. winning the mythical medal count, so she could claim she deserves the same $37,500 that U.S. gold-medal Olympians get.
