Imane Khelif Triumphs Again: Secures Medal Following Support From Olympics Chief

 Algerian boxer Imane Khelif won again Saturday just hours after the International Olympic Committee defended her and Taiwanese boxer Lin Yu-ting, who have faced calls to be removed from the Olympics amid a gender-eligibility debate.

Khelif defeated Hungarian boxer Anna Luca Hamori in a unanimous decision, advancing to the semifinals and securing at least a bronze medal in the women’s 145-pound division.

IOC President Thomas Bach said there was “never any doubt” about Khelif and Yu-ting being women, and characterized online discourse about their presence at the Olympics as detractors wanting to “own the definition of who is a woman.”

Online critics have claimed Khelif and Yu-ting should not be participating in women’s boxing at the Olympics, citing failed and unspecified gender eligibility tests that disqualified them from last year’s World Boxing Championships organized by the controversial International Boxing Association, which lost its recognition from the IOC over transparency issues.

Bach further defended Khelif and Yu-ting’s eligibility, saying they were born and raised as women and noting their legal identification as women on their passports and their multi-year careers in women’s boxing.

Bach said the Olympics will “not take part in a sometimes politically motivated, cultural war.”

The IOC president also said the controversy “is not a [differences in sex development] case,” a term used to describe used those with sexual anatomy that does not align with male or female descriptions, before the IOC issued a correction about the remark, saying Bach meant to say it “is not a transgender” case.

The Hungarian Boxing Association said Friday it would issue letters of protest to the IOC over Khelif’s presence at the Olympics and has considered a legal challenge against her eligibility, ABC News reported, citing statements made to Hungary's state news agency.

Yu-ting will also compete in her division’s quarterfinals Sunday morning and will fight Bulgarian boxer Staneva Kamenova. Khelif’s quarterfinals victory secures her at least a bronze medal ahead of her semifinals bout with Thai boxer Janjaem Suwannapheng on Tuesday.

The IBA has not organized an Olympic boxing tournament since 2016 and has experienced several years worth of governance issues, the Associated Press reported, noting the organization once elected a president who U.S. officials said had ties to Russian organized crime.

Khelif first gained attention online after her viral, 46-second win over Italian boxer Angela Carini this week. Carini sustained just a few strikes from Khelif before withdrawing from the bout, telling reporters she had never felt a punch like one of the strikes she received from Khelif. Carini, who was visibly emotional after the fight, said she would not judge the matter of Khelif’s eligibility and later apologized for her post-fight reaction, adding she was saddened by the controversy and respects the IOC’s decision to include Khelif in the Olympics. Khelif’s failed gender eligibility test has become a focal point of the discourse surrounding her, as the IBA said in a statement this week she participated in an exam that identified competitive advantages over other female athletes. Details around the IBA’s test parameters are vague as the association has said the specifics are confidential. The IBA has said Khelif did not take a testosterone test, though IBA president Umar Kremlev alleged to Russian news agency TASS last year Khelif possessed XY chromosomes, which are typically possessed by men. The IOC said in its own statement this week Khelif and Yu-Ting, also disqualified from the IBA’s boxing championship over a gender test, “were the victims of a sudden and arbitrary decision by the IBA,” adding the two boxers were disqualified without due process.