Imane Khelif collapsed in tears and had to be held up by friends as she guaranteed herself an Olympic medal after becoming the most controversial athlete at the Paris games.
Khelif, 25, won her second bout of the Olympics against her Hungarian opponent and left the ring in floods of tears.
In her first bout it was her Italian opponent, Angela Carini, who was reduced to tears and quit the match after just 46 seconds, but tonight it was Khelif who left sobbing in relief as the incredible focus and pressure on her gave way.
Olympic chiefs slammed the ‘hate’ levied on her after it was revealed that the International Boxing Association had declared her a male and disqualified her from last year’s World Championships after she failed their gender eligibility tests.
The genetic tests showed that Khelif has male XY chromosomes in her DNA. But she is not transgender.
Celebrities such as JK Rowling, British Olympian swimmer Sharron Davies and double Olympic gold medal-winning ex-boxer Nicola Adams have spoken out against Khelif’s involvement in women’s sport.
Davies said: ‘This is shocking. The IOC are a bloody disgrace. In effect legalising beating up females. This must stop!!! What the hell’s the matter with them?’.
Former Prime Minister Liz Truss asked: ‘When will this madness stop? Men cannot become women. Why is the British Government not objecting to this?’
When Khelif initially entered the ring, she was met with resounding cheers and did a Ronaldo style celebration, going toner knees and then junking up with arms raised.
She and her Hungarian opponent touched gloves at the start as a sporting gesture.
Speaking in Arabic as she boarded a coach back to the Olympic Village in dark glasses, Khelif said of the controversy: ‘I am grateful to the IOC who spoke the truth. I am very proud to represent Algeria.
‘Thanks to God this is the first women medal for boxing in Algeria.
‘In the Olympics there are no easy passes. Hopefully I will be ready for the next match for my country that I love so much.
‘And i hope it will be a good one for the next generation.
‘I can say to the Algerian people that I won a medal for Algeria and Arabs.
She said she wanted to play tribute to Algerian Boxer Moustfa Mousa, the first to win a boxing medal for the country, who died yesterday in a road accident in Oran.
He won a bronze at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games.
‘I dedicate this win to Moustfa Mousa’ she said.
But the questions over participation are set to continue despite claims that much of the opposition against her is fuelled by online hate.
Khelif, who was born a female and described by Olympic chief Thomas Bach today as ‘a woman…a woman…a woman’ had been targeted by the International Boxing Association at the World championships in New Delhi last year for having failed gender eligibility tests.
But she remained defiant and having dispatched her first opponent Italy’s Angela Carini went into the ring with the full backing of the Italian and the Algerian Boxing Association who brought her to France.
The furore surrounding her had worsened when the Hungarian posted a photo on social media of a ‘beauty and a beast’ in the run up to the bout and declared she would enter her next fight not concerned whether she would be contesting the bout with a man or a woman.
But it only helped increase the focus on Khelif’s sex and Olympic chiefs slammed the online ‘hate speech’ levied towards her.
Khelif was one of two boxers to have their sex questioned at the Olympics with the second being Taipei’s Lin Yu-Ting who beat Sitora Turdibekova, 22, of Uzbekistan with a unanimous decision in her favour.
Olympic officials say the matter is a ‘minefield’ and that no forensic and unquestionable scientific evidence has been provided to prove both athletes were not women.
IOC chief Bach said: ‘We are talking about women’s boxing .We have two boxers who are born as a woman, who were raised as women, who have passport as women, who have competed for many years as women. This is the clear definition of a woman.’
But Khelif’s team were unhappy with the ‘baseless’ accusations made against the boxer and when she eventually returns to Algeria will be a star having provided the most sensational boxing bout by defeating her first opponent in just 46 seconds on Thursday.
She is said to be set for a tumultuous welcome when she lands back in Tiaret with offers of TV shows and films, said an Algerian businessman living in Paris.
‘She is a national heroine back home. The public there are very sorry for her for the way she has been treated. She was not famous before, but she is a star now.’
The Algerian Olympic and Sports Committee filed an official complaint with the IOC to protest the online harassment of Khelif that amounts to ‘ a serious violation of sports ethics and the Olympic Charter by one of the participants in the boxing tournament at the Paris Olympics, according to a statement that was posted on the committee’s Facebook page.
The statement did not name the boxer who has allegedly posted disparaging comments of the Algerian, but warned that the IOC ‘has issued a final warning to delete every post that concerns our heroine Iman Khalif.’
It added: ‘ We reserve the right to prosecute everyone who participated in the heinous campaign against our heroine Imane Khelif.’
