Algeria organized a hero’s welcome for the 25-year-old boxer at the airport, where gymnast Kaylia Nemour, who won gold for the country, and Djamelis Sedjati, who won bronze in the 800 m race, also appeared.
According to insidethegamez.biz, when I. Khelif appeared at the airport, the crowd started loudly chanting “Tahia Imane”. This motto means “glory in Iman”.
“The answers are in the results of each fight. I wanted to show the struggle and strength of all women, and Algerian women in particular,” said the athlete.
I. Khelif returned from the Paris Olympics surrounded by gender controversy.
The International Boxing Association (IBA), which has been barred from organizing the Olympic boxing tournament due to financial, governance and ethical violations, announced during the Games that Khelif and Taiwan’s Lin Yu-ting had been disqualified from the world championships last year after tests showed that “ they are men.”
The statements of Umar Kremlev, an oligarch closely linked to the Kremlin, quickly turned into a major scandal, despite the fact that the IBA never produced any evidence.
In addition, questions were raised as to why the IBA allowed female athletes to compete in the Tokyo Games if something was wrong.
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) said in the statements, which turned into a worldwide scandal, that the IBA had never provided any tangible evidence.
The Taiwan Boxing Federation even threatened legal action against the IBA.
On Monday, 25-year-old I. Khelif thanked the people of Algeria for supporting her and not turning away.
“Algerian women are an example for the whole world. Thank God that I restored Algeria’s honor and carried the Algerian flag in Paris, which is the most important thing,” she said.
Speaking about the scandal, I. Khelif said: “I am a woman like all women. They hate me, but I don’t know why.”
2024-08-16 16:25:39