Imane Khelif smiled, danced and roared with delight after beating 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.
The Algerian, who had been at the centre of a gender dispute in one of the major talking points of the Olympics, never looked in any trouble as she enjoyed the backing of a rapturous Algerian crowd in the stands at Court Philippe-Chatrier.
She been caught up in a gender debate after a 2023 decision by the now-banned International Boxing Association (IBA) resurfaced, which disqualified her for failing a gender eligibility test.
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has rejected the results of the IBA-ordered tests as arbitrary and illegitimate, saying there was no reason to conduct them.
Khelif’s supporters came prepared with the Algerian flag and let out a loud roar as Khelif walked into the arena ahead of the fight. They cheered her on all the way from the first round up until the medal ceremony as Khelif stood proudly in the centre of the podium with a gold medal on her chest.
“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.
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