Olympics Day 10: Imane Khelif advances to welterweight final, Harrington wins second gold
Imane Khelif, the Algerian female welterweight who has battled gender misconceptions at the 2024 Olympics, will box for a gold medal.
The 25-year-old Khelif of Tiaret, Algeria dominated Thai foe Janjaem Suwannapheng at Roland Garros in Paris, winning a 5-0 decision to advance to the 66 kilogram final on Friday, August 9. There she will meet China’s Yang Liu, who won her semifinal bout against Taiwan’s Chen Nien Chin by 4-1 decision.
Khelif controlled an uneventful first round as Suwannapheng had trouble getting inside the long left jab of the Algerian boxer. Suwannapheng stepped up her aggression in the second round but still had trouble getting clos as Khelif used her footwork and counterpunching to keep the fight at a distance that favored her 5’10” frame.
Khelif’s technical mastery continued into the third, as a pair of right hands popped back Suwannapheng’s head for a standing eight count. After the decision was announced Khelif danced excitedly, as she now prepares to box for the chance to become the North African country’s second boxing gold medalist, following Hocine Soltani, who earned the 60 kilogram gold at the 1996 Olympics.
While Khelif’s in-ring dominance has been noteworthy, it’s been the controversy surrounding her inclusion at the Olympic Games which have garnered far more headlines. Khelif and Taiwanese boxer Lin Yu-ting were among two female boxers who were denied entry into last year’s World Championships by the over claims that they had failed an unspecified gender eligibility test.
The World Championships are run by the International Boxing Association, which has been forced to rebrand several times and is permanently banned from overseeing Olympic boxing due to governance and financial issues. The IBA is headed by Umar Kremlev, a Russian citizen with ties to Vladimir Putin, and had overseen the moving of the organization’s headquarters from Switzerland to Russia.
The controversy became front page news last week, when Italy’s Angela Corini quit her bout against Khelif just 46 seconds into the contest, claiming that she had been hit harder than she’d ever been hit before.
Neither of Khelif’s two subsequent opponents have been particularly affected by Khelif’s punches, however.
International Olympic Committee spokesman Mark Adams told the Associated Press earlier this week that the IBA’s gender tests “are not legitimate,” while IOC President Thomas Bach has suggested that the outrage directed towards those two boxers is part of a Russia-led campaign.
“We have two boxers who are born as women, who have been raised as women, who have a passport as a woman and have competed for many years as women,” Bach said. “Some want to own a definition of who is a women.”
Kellie Harrington, the 34-year-old Irish boxer from Dublin, clinched her second straight gold medal, defeating China’s Yang Wenlu by 4-1 decision in the women’s 60 kilogram final.
Harrington, who also won that division’s title at the Tokyo Games, told reporters afterward that she planned to walk out into the sunset on the highest of highs.
“The last hurrah, I’m done. I’ve always said I want to retire a champion, that’s it,” Harrington told RTE.
“It just gives hope to all these young kids, all these teenagers. It gives hope to the people of Ireland, but this one was for me.”
Harrington says she plans to focus on life with her wife, Mandy.
The post Olympics Day 10: Imane Khelif advances to welterweight final, Harrington wins second gold appeared first on The Ring.