Algerian Imane Khelif’s victory in women’s boxing at the 2024 Paris Olympics has sparked a wave of excitement and inspiration among athletes and coaches in the country. The success of Imane, who won Olympic gold, has ignited a fresh passion for the sport, especially among women.
Khelif’s presence is widespread in Algeria, gracing advertisements in airports, highway billboards, and boxing gyms. The 25-year-old welterweight’s success in Paris has propelled her to the status of a national hero, as Algerians united in support of her amidst doubts about her gender and eligibility to compete.
After Imane Khelif was declared the winner of the Women’s Welterweight Division qualification match over Angela Carini from Italy. Carini told reporters she had never experienced such hard punches in her career and this saw a series of online bullying and transgender accusations against Imane, which the International Olympic Committee quickly debunked, emphasising that Iman was born a woman. The disinformation was soon traced back to Russian sources.
Imane’s journey to global stardom
Khelif, born in 1999, grew up playing soccer in her rural village in Tiaret, western Algeria. Now a UNICEF ambassador, she previously told the U.N. children’s agency that it was ducking the punches of local boys that got her into boxing at age 16.
Imane recalls she managed to excel in football in her rural village in Tiaret in western Algeria despite the sport not being seen as a game fit for girls. The boys in her village felt threatened and picked fights with her.
Taking up boxing proved even more of a challenge for her than football. It meant travelling for training each week to the next village, 10 kilometres away, which also meant money for bus fare. She was unable to ask her father who, besides being away working in the Sahara desert as a welder, did not approve of boxing for girls. To raise money for transport, Imane sold scrap metal for recycling, and her mother sold couscous. Together, they paid for the bus to town so that Imane could have regular boxing training sessions.
Three years later, following long training hours every week, and at 19 years of age, Imane came 17th at the 2018 World Championships in New Delhi and represented Algeria at the 2019 World Championships in Russia, where she came 33rd. Khelif also competed for Algeria at the Tokyo Olympics, where Ireland’s Kellie Harrington beat her in the quarter-finals. In 2022, she clinched a runner-up spot in the women’s World Championships, falling to Ireland’s Amy Broadhurst.
“I started with nothing and now I have everything,” says Imane in an interview in the UNICEF office in the capital, Algiers. “Both my parents come(sic) to support me. They are my biggest fans,” she said, a large, charming smile lighting up her face. “My message to young people is to follow your dreams. Don’t let obstacles come your way; resist and overcome them.”
