Algerian Imane Khelif beats Anna Luca Hamori in a gender storm in boxing

Before the fight, the head of the Algerian Olympic and Sports Committee, Yassine Arab, told this newspaper that the nation was proud of Khelif and even alleged that she was the victim of a plot aimed at undermining the ambitions of the predominantly Islamic country.

“The Zionist lobby wants to break Imane’s spirit. But today, Imane is very strong,” he said. “They don’t want a Muslim or Arab girl to reach a higher level in women’s boxing.

“We are all here for Imane. You can see all the support from everyone (around the world). All the international press associations are supporting Imane,” Arab said.

He also took aim at US presidential candidate Donald Trump, who said: “I will keep men out of women’s sport” after Khelif’s previous victory over Italy’s Angela Carini – which ended after just 46 seconds and intensified a complex debate over the IOC’s gender policy in boxing.

“He wants to talk about Imane? He has a lot of problems. First of all, I tell this guy, go see the doctor. Go see the psychologist. You’re in a really bad mood.”

Khelif, 25, was too good for Hamori, who was booed as she entered the ring less than 24 hours after posting, then deleting, an image on social media depicting a petite woman preparing to fight a beast beneath the Olympic rings.

She chose her words carefully as she addressed the 300 journalists gathered in the mixed zone.

“It was a tough fight, but I think I did everything I wanted to do before the fight and I think it was a good fight,” Hamori said. “I’m very proud of myself and I’m very grateful to be here. It was a very good competition for me and it was my childhood dream, so I’m very happy.”

“I wish my opponent and others good luck in the final and I am very grateful to my coaches, the Hungarian team, my family and everyone who supported me.”

On Saturday, hours before Khelif’s fight, IOC President Thomas Bach told a news conference in Paris that there was no problem with Algerian-Chinese Taipei boxer Lin Yu-ting competing against women.

“Let’s be very clear here, we’re talking about women’s boxing, and we have two boxers who were born women, who were raised as women, who have women’s passports and who have competed for many years as women,” Bach said.

“That’s the clear definition of a woman, there was never any doubt that they were a woman, what we see now is that some want to take ownership of the definition of who a woman is.”

At the press conference, he added: “This is not a case of DSD (differences of sex development), this is a woman competing in a women’s competition, and I think I’ve explained that many times.”

However, the IOC had to send a correction later in the afternoon with a statement claiming that Bach had intended to say “this is not a transgender case”, rather than “this is not a DSD case”.

Hungarian Olympic Committee President and IOC member Balazs Furjef spoke to the media after the fight, following revelations of a protest filed by the Hungarians before the fight.

“First of all, we Hungarians, as proud and long-standing members of the international Olympic family, have always been and will always be in favour of fair competition,” Furjef said.

“And we can only believe, we can only think that every match is decided on the playing field and not elsewhere… this was never an option for Luca, we could not even convince her, nor the president, nor myself, nor the entire Olympic Committee, not to fight. We Hungarians are always ready to fight bravely and heroically and this is what Luca has just done and shown us.

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“Of course, the Paris boxing competitions have their consequences, like any other competition. These consequences must be carefully evaluated after the Games. And as loyal members of the international Olympic family and the International Olympic Committee, we are 100% confident that the International Olympic Committee will make the right decisions.”

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