In Tiaret, a rural town of 200,000 in the high desert of Algeria, a huge crowd erupted on Friday night to celebrate the return of welterweight boxer Imane Kherif, who defied an international storm of lies, online libel and ignorant speculation to win an Olympic gold medal despite doubts about her Olympic qualification.
As the open-top bus slowly made its way through throngs of jubilant fans, Kherif waved and posed for photos alongside fellow Tiaret athlete and bronze medallist Jamel Sejati.
Parade Video Post to X The show showed crowds dancing to the music and merrily tossing rifles into the air, while families gathered on balconies waving replica gold medals and taking photos of Khelife, the 25-year-old daughter of a welder who has risen to the sport’s highest pinnacle. Children were filmed sitting on her shoulders and a man climbing a tree to get a glimpse of her.
Algerian gold medallist Imane Kherif was hailed as a hero after fighting for his country on multiple fronts. AFP – Getty Images
Following Kherif’s dominant first-round victory over Italian boxer Angela Carini, notable observers including J.K. Rowling, Elon Musk and former President Donald Trump have drawn Kherif into the debate over sex and gender in sports, spreading misinformation about her gender and undermining the work it takes to become such a great athlete.
“The smirk of a man who knows he’s protected by a misogynistic sporting establishment, revelling in the pain of the woman he’d just hit over the head,” Rowling wrote under a photo of the fight between Kheriff and Kalini.
Musk and Trump followed suit, with the former president and current presidential candidate promising to “take men out of women’s sports.”
This attack is baseless: Ms Kheriff is a woman and was born a woman.
So in Algeria, the attack on her was seen not as part of a fierce debate about gender and sport, but as an attack on the nation itself, and Algerians fiercely defended her.
When Kherif returned home as the first Algerian, Arab and African woman to win an Olympic gold medal in boxing, her people gave her a welcome befitting a hero who had fought for her country on multiple fronts.
The attack on Herif was seen as an attack on the state itself, and Algerians came to her fierce defence. Anis Belghoul/AP
“I want to thank the Algerian people for supporting me through this ordeal,” Kherif said after winning gold in Paris, and he repaid the support with a party in Tiaret.
“Every man and woman in Algeria has the right to be happy and to celebrate,” she told reporters at her local government office on Friday.
The celebration was fitting for Kheriff’s tireless work spree from the town where he learned to box to the 2024 Paris Olympics and beyond to become a four-time Olympic gold medallist.
And the roar of the crowd drowned out those who tried to disrupt Khelif’s historic victory.
Their accusations stem from the decision of the Russian-dominated International Boxing Association to disqualify Kerif from last year’s world championships in Taiwan. The IBA said Keriv’s disqualification, which came after he beat a Russian opponent, was for failing an unspecified qualification test.
The International Olympic Committee criticised the IBA, calling the testing “incredibly flawed”.
French prosecutors have opened an investigation into the cyberbullying allegations after Khelif’s lawyer, Nabil Boudi, filed a criminal complaint last week for “malicious acts of cyber harassment.”
Bowde said the boxer had been the target of a “misogynistic, racist and sexist campaign” and confirmed that Rowling and Musk had been named in the lawsuit filed against X.
French prosecutors have launched an investigation into allegations of cyberbullying after Kherif’s lawyers filed a criminal complaint against X, alleging she was the target of a “misogynistic, racist and sexist campaign.” MOHD RASFAN / AFP – Getty Images
“What we are asking is for the prosecutor’s office to investigate not only these people but anyone they deem necessary, and that once this case goes to court, they will be brought to justice,” Bowdy told Variety.
“All those involved will be prosecuted for violating Imane’s dignity and honour,” Kherif’s coach, Mustapha Bensau, told The Associated Press.
Last week, Kherif told Algerian television station El Bilad that no one has the right to question her gender, and acknowledged the fear she felt during the Olympics.
But she continues to beat her opponents both in and out of the ring.
“Why has there been so much protest around the world?” she asked. “I was scared, but thank God I got through it.”
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