The truth about Olympic boxer Imane Khelif
Imane Khelif has put any notion of controversy to one side by stacking win after win at the Paris Olympics, with the Algerian now set to battle Yang Liu of China for gold.
Khelif was supported en masse by the Algerian community in Paris, with fans adorning Roland Garros with the nation's colours of red and green, per Barney Ronay of The Guardian.
Khelif's inclusion in the Olympics has caused controversy due to questions over her gender following a DNA test by the International Boxing Association last year. Fortunately, her father was able to answer any questions surrounding his daughter's gender.
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Imane Khelif's father has spoken. The boxer, who has become one of the biggest talking points of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, has seen how her gender was called into question after her fight with Angela Carini, who abandoned the bout after 46 seconds.
The controversy stemmed from the fact that Imane Khelif has a hyperandrogenic condition that raises her testosterone levels.
The matter has reached such a point that her father, Omar Khelif, has come out to defend his daughter in an interview with AFP.
Omar has been staunch in his defense of his daughter, stressing that she should not be exposed to this type of insinuation or any doubts about her gender.
"My child is a girl," Omar Khelif told AFP. "She was raised as a girl. She is a strong girl – I raised her to work and be brave."
Omar admits that, at first, he tried to dissuade his daughter from boxing but that, once she took the step, he supported her completely.
At the moment, his daughter has already secured a bronze medal for Algeria and this Tuesday, August 6, at 10:30 p.m CET (9.30pm GMT, 2,30pm PDT,5.30pm EDT), she will fight for her place in the final.
To do this, she will have to beat Thai fighter Janjaem Suwannapheng. Whoever wins will not only secure silver, but will fight for gold on the Phillipe Chatrier Court, the center court of Roland Garros.
Regardless of the position that Khelif reaches, the boxer is already a legend in Algeria, where the president himself, Abdelmadjid Tebboune, congratulated her via Twitter.
"You have honored Algeria, Algerian women and Algerian boxing. We will be with you whatever the results," he said in a tweet. We will have to see what those results are.
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