‘By hurting her, they are hurting all the women of Algeria’: Khelif has a country in her corner

Court Philippe-Chatrier, the red heart of Roland Garros, has witnessed many a heavyweight stoush. For all the storied sporting contests associated with this place, you can be assured it has never seen a night quite like this.

For Algerians, no sporting cause is greater right now than Imane Khelif, a boxer both at the centre of a furious row over whether she should be competing in Paris and, after tonight, one fight away from taking an Olympic gold medal back to her home city of Tiaret.

Algeria’s Imane Khelif progresses through to the gold medal match.Credit: Getty Images

This stadium can seat more than 15,000 people and it was crammed to its newly-installed roof with Khelif fans decked out in red, white and green and Algerian women trilling in the high-pitched lele that used to scare the hats off French legionnaires.

Meriem Meerabet, a 44-year-old professional who lives and works in central Paris, was born in France but considers herself Algerian. At the last count, there were nearly 900,000 Algerians in France and Meerabet says the whole diaspora is riding with Khelif towards Saturday’s gold medal bout in the 66kg division.

“Imane, we are very proud of her because she is a strong woman,” she says among the jumping and chanting fans outside the stadium. “For us, it is not fair to say she is a man. We all feel hurt.

Khelif performs a celebratory high step after beating Thailand’s Janjaem Suwannapheng.Credit: Getty Images

“She is very strong, yes, but we don’t understand why other countries, like Russia, Italy and Hungary, say she is a man.”

Arezki Afraoucene reckons he knows. He lives and works in Paris as an engineer and shelled out €205 ($344) for last-minute tickets to see Khelif beat Thailand’s Janjaem Suwannapheng in the semi-final. “All Algerians know the parties who are behind this,” he says.

Afraoucene also offers a parochial take on the eligibility issues that have dogged Khelif in the two years since chromosomal blood tests commissioned by the International Boxing Association raised questions about whether it was fair for her to compete against other women fighters.

“Imane has the proof of her parents. She was born a woman, she grew into a woman and now they say she has a problem with chromosomes,” says Afraoucene. “She has chromosomes – Algerian chromosomes. Algerian chromosomes are special chromosomes which not every woman in the world has.”

Khelif says she has pushed aside the rolling gender stoush that has followed her progress through the 66kg competition and is focused on one goal.

Her bout with Suwannapheng gave no sign of the excruciatingly personal scrutiny she has endured in Paris, ever since Italy’s Angela Carini spectacularly aborted their early-round match to protest the unfairness of the night.

Khelif controlled the fight, won every round and performed a celebratory high step in the ring. “We are close to the gold medal,” she said.

Where that takes women’s boxing is anyone’s guess.

Khelif offered a few comments in Arabic after her fight but was impatient to get away from the unfamiliar and unwanted media attention that now accompanies her every bout.

Khelif was awarded a unanimous points decision after an imposing win against Suwannapheng.Credit: Getty Images

Outside Roland Garros, another Imane, 34-year-old Imane Abdelillam, was more expansive. She has lived her entire life in France and, in many respects, thinks of herself as French. When it comes to sport and women’s rights, she is Algerian.

She feels wounded for Khelif and thinks racism, rather than biology, is to blame.

“By hurting her, they are hurting all the women of Algeria, all the people of Algeria,” she says. “Because she is a woman, because she is Arabic, because she is boxing and it is a male sport, it is very difficult for her to do what she is doing now.

“We are now in 2024. We are including everyone; transgender, gay people. Because she is not a white woman and doesn’t meet beauty standards, I think they are targeting her.”

The dispute over Khelif’s eligibility to box shows no sign of abating. The IBA insists that successive tests have shown Khelif carries XY sex chromosomes, which excludes her from women’s competition under their rules.

The International Olympic Committee, which controls boxing at these Games, says the IBA rules are arbitrary, the tests unreliable and so long as Khelif is identified as a woman in her passport, that is good enough for them.

If the crowd at Roland Garros is any guide, Algeria considers the matter settled.

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