An Algerian athlete won the Olympic women’s welterweight boxing championship Friday in Paris, a year after she was disqualified from the world championships for failing a gender eligibility test.
Amid a controversy that has overshadowed boxing at the Olympics, Imane Khelif won 5-0 over Chinese world champion Yang Liu to take the gold medal in her weight class.
"It is a dream I have had for eight years, and thanks to God and the team working with me, it has become a reality," Khelif said, according to Algerian news outlet El Khabar.
Khelif and Lin Yu Ting from Taiwan were disqualified from last year’s world championships after the International Boxing Association, the world’s governing body for the sport, said that gender tests “conclusively indicated that both athletes did not meet the required necessary eligibility criteria and were found to have competitive advantages over other female competitors." Khelif and Lin did not challenge the results of the tests.
The International Olympic Committee has fiercely defended Khelif and Lin’s inclusion in the games.
Lin is set to fight for the featherweight gold medal on Saturday against Julia Szeremeta of Poland.
IOC President Thomas Bach added fuel to the controversy earlier Friday when he was asked whether the Olympics sacrificed safety over inclusion by having Khelif and Lin participate.
"If somebody is presenting us a scientifically solid system how to identify men and women, we are the first ones to do it," Bach said in his final news conference of these Olympics.
"We do not like this uncertainty. What is not possible is someone saying, 'This is not a woman' just by looking at somebody or by falling prey to a defamation campaign by a not credible organization with highly political interests," Bach said.
Michael Katz ✉
Michael Katz is a Newsmax reporter with more than 30 years of experience reporting and editing on news, culture, and politics.
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