PARIS — The Algerian female boxer at the center of a global debate over gender eligibility and fairness at the Paris Olympics won her semifinal match Tuesday, advancing to the gold medal fight.
Imane Khelif defeated Janjaem Suwannapheng of Thailand in a unanimous decision, advancing to the final round of the women’s 66-kilogram division on Friday.
Khelif thanked god, her family, coaches and all of her Algerian supporters.
"This victory is for the Algerians who supported me from the beginning until the end," she told reporters after the bout.
"Of course, I am so happy with this win. As you know, boxing is one of the first sports in the Olympics. Reaching the finals in boxing takes work."
She and another female Olympic boxer, Lin Yu-ting representing Chinese Taipei, continue to face intense scrutiny and false accusations about their gender and eligibility to compete with women.
Fans erupted with support from the moment the match began on Tuesday night, waving the Algerian green, white and red flag and chanting “Imane, Imane, Imane!” Khelif appeared elated after the match was called in her favor, dancing around the ring.
The fighter said she could hear her fans' cheers filling up famed Roland-Garros.
"I am expressing my gratitude to the Algerian community," she said. "I was pleasantly surprised — the hall was complete, and the Algerian flag was everywhere, which motivated me even more."
Although Khelif was winner by unanimous decision, this was the most competitive test she's faced in this tournament.
The 5-foot-7 Suwannapheng showed good footwork and limited the damaging blows thrown by the 5-10 Khelif.
"The semifinal match today was intense, as expected for a final match," she said. "Thanks to Allah, I defeated the Thai boxer I knew very well."
After the bout, Suwannapheng said that she believes Khelif is a woman and that "it was a fair fight, because we were under the same rules."
Khelif and Lin have competed for years in women’s events, including at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, and there is no indication that they identify as transgender or intersex, the latter referring to people born with sex characteristics that do not fit strictly into the male-female gender binary.
However, controversy surrounding their gender stemmed from their disqualifications at last year’s Women’s World Boxing Championships by the Russian-led International Boxing Association.
The association, which is led by Umar Kremlev, who is reportedly an acquaintance of Vladimir Putin, alleged the two women failed an unspecified gender test that showed they have male chromosomes.
The allegations, first reported by Russian state media last year, resurfaced during the Paris Olympics, where Russia has been banned from competing.
The International Olympic Committee, which severed ties with the IBA last year because of financial and ethical impropriety, has fiercely come to Khelif’s and Lin’s defense, repeatedly declaring them eligible because of the genders listed on their passports.
At a news conference Saturday, IOC President Thomas Bach slammed the incendiary online commentary about the women, chalking it up to “hate speech.”
“We have two boxers who were born as women, who have been raised as women, who have a passport as a woman and who have competed for many years as women,” Bach said.
Since the accusations about her gender started last year, Khelif has repeatedly rebuked them.
On Saturday, she told reporters, “I want to tell the entire world that I am a female,” fighting back tears after her second Paris win. Khelif’s father has also insisted that his daughter is a woman whom he has raised as a girl. Speaking with Algerian broadcaster SNTV on Sunday night, Khelif pleaded for the public to “avoid bullying all athletes.”
Lin has thanked her fans for their support in recent days. She reportedly took up boxing as a child to protect her mother from domestic violence.
The IBA’s legitimacy has been questioned in recent years.
The IOC suspended it in 2019 and stopped recognizing it formally last year. A report the IOC produced last year alleged that the IBA participated in years of financial and ethical impropriety. USA Boxing, the sport’s U.S. governing body, also cut ties with the association last year, citing the “ongoing failures of IBA leadership.”
IOC spokesperson Mark Adams called the IBA’s eligibility tests “flawed” and ”not legitimate” at a news conference Sunday.
The IBA reaffirmed its decision to disqualify Khelif and Lin from the 2023 competition last week, saying in a statement that the pair also failed similar eligibility tests at its Women’s World Boxing Championships in Istanbul in 2022.
The body didn’t take any action against Khelif and Lin after the first tests, which allegedly showed the same results as last year’s tests. The timing of the disqualifications, which came just days after Khelif beat an otherwise undefeated Russian boxer, has also been questioned.
A news conference the IBA hastily called in Paris on Monday shed little light on the allegations as Kremlev, its president, answered several questions with rambling remarks against the Olympics, which he compared to Sodom and Gomorrah, biblical cities destroyed because of their notorious sinfulness.
As false accusations about Khelif and Lin spread worldwide last week, frequent critics of transgender rights, including Elon Musk and “Harry Potter” author J.K. Rowling, quickly weighed in.
“A young female boxer has just had everything she’s worked and trained for snatched away because you allowed a male to get in the ring with her,” Rowling wrote after Khelif’s first win last week.
Some leading politicians in the West, including former President Donald Trump, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., were also quick to comment on the matter.
“I will keep men out of women’s sports!” Trump wrote on his social media site, Truth Social, in all caps.
Nikki Hiltz, a nonbinary American runner participating in this Olympics, appeared to defend Khelif and Lin on Tuesday after advancing to the semifinals in the women’s 1,500-meter race.
“There’s a lot of ignorance and hate out there right now,” Hiltz wrote on Instagram. “For those who identify as nonbinary or trans and are doing cool things in the world (which is most likely all of you because all queer people are cool AF) remember you are magic and that it’s not the critic who counts.”
After more information about the scrutinized boxers and the controversial history of the IBA came to light, some who initially criticized Khelif and Lin apologized.
“Oopsies,” American influencer and professional boxer Logan Paul wrote on X in all caps at the end of last week. “I might be guilty of spreading misinformation along with the entirety of this app.”
And at least one newspaper had to issue a correction because it misidentified Khelif as transgender. In a statement on X, The Boston Globe said it “incorrectly” identified Khelif as trans and recognized “the magnitude of the mistake.”
Lin won her quarterfinal fight against Bulgarian Svetlana Staneva in a unanimous decision Sunday, securing an Olympic medal. She will fight Turkey’s Esra Yıldız Kahraman on Wednesday, with the winner advancing to the women’s 57-kilogram gold medal round Saturday. (In Olympic boxing, there are no third-place matches, so two bronze medals are awarded to the semifinal losers.)
Khelif will go up against Yang Liu of China for the gold medal on Friday. Yang on Tuesday won a split decision against Chen Nien-chin of Chinese Taipei.
"God willing, I will reach the same level and deliver an outstanding performance," Khelif said. "Today, my performance was amazing, showcasing a woman’s struggle, fight, and talent."
David K. Li reported from Paris, Matt Lavietes and Alfred Arian from New York City.
