At the 2024 Paris Olympics, Imane Khalif (26, Algeria), who has the XY chromosome, won the gold medal in the women’s boxing competition.
In the women’s 66kg boxing final held at the Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France on the 10th, Khalifa won the gold medal by a 5-0 (30-27, 30-27, 30-27, 30-27, 30-27) decision over Yang Liu (32, China).
It is the first gold medal in Algerian women’s boxing history, and the first gold medal in Algerian boxing in 28 years since Hossine Soltani at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics.
“I am so happy to have won the gold medal,” said Khalifa at a post-match press conference. “I would like to thank everyone in Algeria.
“Being an Olympic champion has been my dream for eight years. I trained for eight years without sleep and exhausted. Now I am an Olympic champion and a gold medalist,” she said.
“I am more than qualified to compete in this competition,” she continued. “I was born a woman, grew up as a woman, and competed as a woman. There is no doubt about it.
Throughout the competition, Khalifa was embroiled in a ‘gender controversy’. Last year, he was disqualified from the World Championships by the International Boxing Association (IBA) for having ‘XY chromosomes’. IBA President Umar Kremlev told the Russian state-run TASS news agency at the time, ”The results of the genetic (DNA) test showed that Khalifa has XY chromosomes, so she was excluded from the competition.”
After the IBA was stripped of its right to govern the Olympics by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) due to judging irregularities, Khalif was allowed to compete in the Olympics. IOC spokesman Mark Adams explained that an athlete’s sex cannot be determined solely by chromosomes, and that Khalif’s passport states “female” so she can compete in women’s events.
In this Olympics, except for the round of 16, Caliph won all matches by unanimous decision with a score of 5-0. In the round of 16, Angela Carini (25, Italy) was forced to withdraw 46 seconds into the match. Carini refused to shake hands with Caliph and left the ring in tears.
“I have been boxing under the IBA since 2018. I don’t know why they hate me. With the gold medal, I sent a message that my dignity and honor are above everything else,” said Khalifa about the IBA disqualifying him from the world championships.
“My message to the world is to uphold the Olympic principles and avoid bullying. I hope the bullying stops. I hope I won’t be attacked like this in the future.”
According to ‘My Info’, the official information site of the organizing committee of the event, Khalifa dreamed of becoming a boxer after watching a boxing match at the 2016 Rio Olympics. He continued his dream by traveling about 10km by bus from his residence to the boxing gym every day. Khalifa and his mother even sold scrap metal to pay for the bus fare.
Reporter Lee Hye-won, Donga.com [email protected]
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2024-08-10 08:59:46