Algeria's Imane Khelif (Blue) reacts after beating Thailand's Janjaem Suwannapheng in the women's 66kg semi-final boxing match during the Paris 2024 Olympic Games at the Roland-Garros Stadium, in Paris on August 6, 2024. (Photo by Mauro PIMENTEL / AFP)
Paris: The Algerian boxer embroiled in a major gender controversy at the Paris Olympics won her semi-final on Tuesday to guarantee at least a silver medal in front of a raucous Roland Garros crowd that chanted her name.
Imane Khelif defeated Thailand’s 2023 world silver medallist Janjaem Suwannapheng in a unanimous points decision to march into Friday’s final in the women’s 66kg category.
Thailand's Janjaem Suwannapheng and Algeria's Imane Khelif (Blue) compete in the women's 66kg semi-final boxing match during the Paris 2024 Olympic Games at the Roland-Garros Stadium, in Paris on August 6, 2024. (Photo by MOHD RASFAN / AFP)
Taiwan’s Lin Yu-ting, the other boxer in the eye of a storm over her eligibility, is herself sure to take home at least bronze at a different weight.
The 25-year-old Khelif and Lin both fought at the Tokyo Olympics three years ago but there was no controversy at the time and neither won a medal.
Both were disqualified from last year’s world championships after failing gender eligibility tests, but were cleared to compete in Paris.
Khelif was given the biggest roar of the night as she entered the arena at Roland Garros, usually home to Grand Slam tennis but hosting Olympic boxing.
The gender controversy ignited when Khelif defeated Angela Carini in 46 seconds in her opening bout in the French capital, the Italian reduced to tears and abandoning the fight after suffering a badly hurt nose.
The 2023 world championships, from which Lin and Khelif were expelled, were run by the International Boxing Association (IBA) but the International Olympic Committee (IOC) is organising the sport at the Games because of financial, governance and ethical concerns at the IBA.
The IBA’s Kremlin-linked president Umar Kremlev claimed at a chaotic press conference on Monday that both fighters had “genetic testing that shows that these are men”.
The IOC has leapt to the defence of Khelif and Lin, with president Thomas Bach saying they were born and raised as women, and have passports saying that.
