Imane Khelif defeated Hungary’s Luca Anna Hamori by unanimous decision in their quarter-final welterweight bout at the Paris Olympics on Saturday to give Algeria its first Olympic boxing medal since 2000.
Khelif has been in the spotlight in recent days as part of a gender row that has dominated headlines and been the subject of much discussion on social media platforms.
At the end, before the judges’ verdict was announced, the duo embraced and Khelif left the ring in tears.
Some of the Algerian-heavy North Paris Arena crowd chanted Khelif’s name before the match, cheering her into the ring.
Hamori, who said it was unfair to face Khelif, was booed into the venue, but the loser was magnanimous.
Khelif will face Thailand’s Janjaem Suwannapheng in the last four on Tuesday for a place in the final.
Taiwan’s Lin Yu-ting can also guarantee at least a bronze medal on Sunday when she takes on Bulgaria’s Svetlana Staneva in the women’s 57kg quarter-finals.
The defeated semi-finalists in boxing take home the bronze.
Khelif and Lin were disqualified from last year’s World Cup after failing gender eligibility tests.
Controversy flared on Thursday when Khelif needed just 46 seconds to win her opening match in the French capital, forcing an exit against her injured and tearful Italian opponent Angela Carini.
Carini, suffering a badly injured nose and distraught, collapsed in the center of the ring in tears.
Twenty-five-year-old Khelif and twenty-eight-year-old Lin participated in the Tokyo Games three years ago, where they failed to win a medal.
They were then disqualified from the 2023 International Boxing Association (IBA) World Championships.
The IBA said this week that both boxers “did not pass a testosterone test but were subjected to a separate and recognized test, the details of which remain confidential”.
Boxing in Paris is organized by the International Olympic Committee (IOC), which took over from the IBA due to governance, financial and ethical issues.
The IOC jumped to the defense of Khelif and Lin, with president Thomas Bach saying on Saturday that they were born and raised female and have it written in their passports.
Khelif’s father Omar told AFP from their Algerian village: “My child is a girl.
“She was raised as a girl. She’s a strong girl – I raised her to work and be brave.”
