Algerian Boxer Imane Khelif Wins Gold
In a unanimous decision, Imane Khelif from Algeria won gold in the women’s welterweight division in Paris.
Khelif has been battling both in and out of the ring as a boxing organization questioned her eligibility to fight in the women’s division, despite the fact that she has done so for years, including at the Tokyo Olympics, where she finished fifth.
With her victory in Paris, Khelif said “I sent them a single message with this gold medal and I say my dignity and my honor is above everything.”
Khelif’s bout was over in 11 minutes, but it wasn’t so much the skill she showed in the ring or the critical punches she landed against her opponent, Yang Liu of China, that mattered. It was more than that.
It was more than that for Khelif, who, with her mother, sold scrap metal and couscous in their rural village in western Algeria to raise the money she needed for bus fare to another village 10 km away to train with a coach. “I am from a very small village and a very poor family in Algeria,” she said. “I was born and raised in poor neighborhoods but my family was always proud of me.”
It was more than that for her family, watching back home…
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