Celebrations in Algeria After Imane Khelif Takes Olympic Gold Despite Scrutiny

Celebrations erupted across Algeria late on Friday after boxer Imane Khelif won a gold medal at the Paris Olympics, where she had endured intense scrutiny and online abuse over misconceptions about her womanhood.

Crowds of supporters partied in the city of Tiaret in Khelif's home region after she beat Yang Liu of China 5:0 in the women’s welterweight division, wrapping up the best series of fights of her boxing career.

Khelif’s gold medal is Algeria’s first in women’s boxing and she is only the nation’s second boxing gold medalist, joining Hocine Soltani (1996) while claiming the seventh gold medal in the country's Olympic history.

Fans in Paris, Algeria, and around the world embraced Khelif, even as she faced an extraordinary amount of scrutiny from world leaders, major celebrities and others who questioned her eligibility or falsely claimed she was a man.

It thrust her into a larger divide over changing attitudes toward gender identity and regulations in sports, stemming from the International Boxing Association’s decision to disqualify Khelif and Li Yu-ting of Taiwan from last year’s world championships.

The Russian-dominated IBA claimed both boxers had failed an eligibility test for women’s competition that its officials declined to answer basic questions about.

The International Olympic Committee took the unprecedented step last year of permanently banning the IBA from the Olympics following years of concerns about its governance, competitive fairness and financial transparency.

It has called the arbitrary sex tests that the sport’s governing body imposed on the two boxers irretrievably flawed and repeatedly reaffirmed the two boxers’ right to compete in Paris.

While Khelif drew enthusiastic, flag-draped fans at the Olympic, she has also become a hero in Algeria, where many have seen the world’s dissection of the boxer as criticism of their nation.