The Algerian boxer who was at the centre of the Paris Olympics gender row, Imane Khelif, has received a hero’s welcome upon returning home from the 2024 Games.
Khelif, 25, beat China’s Yang Liu in the final of the women’s 66kg event via a unanimous decision.
But along with Taiwan‘s Lin Yu-Ting, who took gold in the women’s 57kg category, the pair have been scrutinised over their eligibility.
Both fighters had been disqualified by the IBA from competing at the World Championships in 2023 after failing a gender test but had insisted that they were born female.
Khelif was pressed on the topic following her victory on Friday, asserting: ‘I am fully qualified. I am a woman like any other woman.
Gender row boxer Imane Khelif (front, second from left) receieved a hero’s welcome upon returning to Algeria
Khelif (left) fist-pumped the air after clinching gold in the women’s 66kg boxing event in Paris
The 25-year-old had been disqualified from competing at the 2023 World Championships by the IBA after failing a gender test
‘I was born a woman, I lived as a woman, I competed as a woman – there is no doubt.’
Today, the boxer was pictured receiving a hero’s welcome on her return to her home country.
Having flown back to Algeria following the conclusion of the Paris Games on Sunday night, Khelif and the Algerian Olympic delegation were met by fans, reporters and government officials at the Houari Boumediene Airport in Algiers.
Khelif smiled and presented her gold medal to members of the crowd outside of the Airport terminal, while appearing to fist-pump the air in celebration of her victory.
She was also pictured standing next to Abderrahmane Hammed and several of her team-mates, with Algeria picking up two gold medals and one bronze medal in Paris.
‘I want to tell the world that they should commit to the Olympic principles and they should not bully people,’ Khelif had added, following her victory last week.
‘This is the message of the Olympics. I hope people stop bullying. We are in the Olympics to perform as athletes, to our families. I hope will not see any similar attacks in future.’
Both fighters had come under scrutiny from some online, including former tennis player Martina Navratilova, who hit out at the International Olympic Comittee.
Lin Yu-ting of Taiwan (pictured) was also disqualified alongside Khelif at the World Championships but won gold in the women’s 57kg event
Martina Navratilova called Khelif’s participation ‘a travesty’ on X (formerly Twitter) stating it ‘makes a mockery of all Olympic sports’
Algeria’s delegation were welcomed home by officials at the Houari Boumediene airport, with the country’s sport’s minister Abderrahmane Hammed (front, third from right) in attendance
Khelif has since hit back at questions over her eligibility to compete in the women’s boxing at the Paris Games
Khelif had also stated after her victory: ‘I hope people stop bullying. We are in the Olympics to perform as athletes, to our families’
‘Thanks for nothing IOC [International Olympic Committee]. Shame on you. This is a travesty,’ the 67-year-old wrote in a post on X (formerly Twitter).
President of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) Thomas Bach, who is due to resign from his role next year, had taken to defend Khelif and Yu-Ting’s right to participate.
‘This is not a question of inclusion, this has never played a role in all this, this is a question of justice: women must be allowed to take part in women’s competitions. And the two fighters are women,’ the IOC president said last week.
‘It is not as easy (as those) in this cultural war may want to portray it, that the XX or XY is the clear distinction between men and women.
‘This is scientifically not true anymore. Therefore these two are women and they have the right to participate in the women’s competition. This has nothing to do with inclusion in any way.’
Meanwhile, World Athletics boss Lord Sebastian Coe, who has thrown his name in the hat to succeed Bach as the IOC’s new chief, today vowed to ‘protect the female’ category in women’s sport.
‘I can’t really sit here having a glass ceiling where there are female athletes coming into our sport who know that there will be a point beyond which biology is going to determine the outcome of what they do,’ Coe told ITV.
‘It’s very simple for me: have a policy, stick to it, communicate it, and don’t get distracted by dissenting voices.’
Khelif (left) stormed to Olympic gold in Paris on Friday night, beating China’s Liu Yang (right) in the final
The Algerian (left) dismantled China’s Liu at a packed Roland Garros to cap a controversial march to first place in which she did not lose a single round
Khelif’s coach Georges Cazorla (pictured) has admitted that it was a ‘problem with hormones’ and ‘with chromosomes’ that led to her being banned from the World Championships
He added: ‘Sometimes you just have to stick a stake in the ground and say: “This far, and no further,” and the decision we made at World Athletics was pretty clear-cut.
‘I’m elected to do some pretty serious things and one of them is the preservation of the female category, because if you don’t do that, then no woman will ever win another sporting event and I take that quite seriously.
‘I come from a sport where we are a 50-50 sport. Female athletes, as you’ve seen here, are box-office. In fact, there have been some periods in the sport where they have actually carried the sport.’
On Sunday, it was reported that Khelif’s coach, Georges Cazorla, had admitted there was a ‘problem with chromosomes’ that prompted her ban by the IBA from last year’s World Championships.
‘This poor young girl was devastated, devastated to suddenly discover that she might not be a girl,’ he told French magazine Le Point.
Sebastian Coe has vowed to ‘protect the women’s category amid his push to be IOC president
IOC president Thomas Bach (pictured) had given his backing to Khelif and Yu-Ting during the Games, stating they had a right to compete
During the Paris Games, Yu-Ting had criticised the IBA’s decision to ban the pair, stating: ‘It’s probably because of my height and hairstyle,’ she said. ‘You can say what you want to say, but I can also decide what I want to do. I don’t have to cater to your stereotypes.’
But in an explosive press conference, the IBA’s Russian president said: ‘We don’t verify what they have between their legs.
‘We don’t know if they were born like that, or if some changes were made,’ said Kremlev, insisting they had done two tests. ‘The second tests confirmed the first tests. If people have doubts, refer to them. They can make their own tests.’
The IOC, meanwhile has hit back at the IBA’s testing claiming that it was ‘so flawed that it’s impossible to engage with’.