Alegerian boxer Imane Khelif locked in an Olympic medal after trouncing Hungary’s Anna Luca Hamori 5-0 in an emotional quarterfinal bout, ensuring that she’ll take home at least a bronze. Khelif broke down in tears following her victory.
The win came just hours after Hamori posted a controversial, and since deleted, image of a female boxer squaring off against a horned monster in the ring. The post is just the latest slight Khelif’s faced about her gender this week.
The controversy began after Khelif defeated Italian boxer Angela Carini in less than a minute. It re-sparked a debate on whether Khelif should have been allowed to compete after she failed an unspecified gender eligibility test from the now-banned International Boxing Association.
International Olympics Committee president Thomas Bach defended Khelif and Taiwan’s Lin Yu-ting Saturday, saying “there was never any doubt about them being a woman.”
“Let’s be very clear here: We are talking about women’s boxing,” Bach said. “We have two boxers who are born as a woman, who have been raised a woman, who have a passport as a woman, and who have competed for many years as women. And this is the clear definition of a woman. There was never any doubt about them being a woman.”
He continued, “What we see now is that some want to own the definition of who is a woman. And there I can only invite them to come up with a scientific-based new definition of who is a woman; and how can somebody being born, raised, competed and having a passport as a woman cannot be considered a woman?”
Despite the ongoing controversy — which has included online comments from Donald Trump and “Harry Potter” scribe J.K. Rowling — Khelif was greeted like a rock star by her fans before and after the match Saturday. Previous Khelif opponent Angela Carini apologized after not shaking her hand after their bout, saying, “This controversy makes me sad.” Carini noted that, if she had the chance to meet Khelif again, she would embrace her.
Khelif will face Thailand’s Janjaem Suwannapheng in the semifinal on Tuesday.
