photo credit: Sophia Robinson
Hard work is no foreign concept to professional boxer Imane Khelief. Growing up in a rural village in Algeria, Khelif had to travel by bus to get to training sessions. From age six she worked tirelessly to sell bread to earn money to afford her bus fare, according to the Economic Times.
Growing up in a conservative region, being a female boxer was not for the weak. Despite the difficulty, her love of the sport made it worth it. However, being at the center of an Olympic gender controversy while having to compete and win a gold medal, was not without perseverance.
“Her work ethic is something to look up to and is inspirational, which could have a great impact on youth all around the world,” junior wrestler Maggie Meyers said.
Imane Khelif’s journey to fame started around 2022, when she won gold in both the Mediterranean games and African championships. She also won silver in the 2022 world championships at only 23 years old. Last year she won gold in the 2023 Arab games and qualified for the 2024 Paris Olympics, according to Vox.
“It’s amazing to make it to the Olympics, the big league. It’s also very inspirational to young kids in sports, to be able to see themselves achieve something great,” Meyers said.
According to factcheck.org, Khelif went into this year’s Olympics with a 38-9 record. Winning about 80 percent of her matches, it’s considered a modest record by a large amount of the boxing community.
“Her record shows how she’s like everyone else but doesn’t give up. Someone can still get to the (inter)national level without winning everything,” Meyers said.
The Olympic drama started during the first round. Imane Khelif and Angela Carini, a well-known Italian boxer, stepped into the ring for their match. Undoubtedly playing in their minds were the hard losses they both faced during the Tokyo Olympics, each of them failing to get past the first round.
“(Tokyo) was unexpected, and it most definitely brought them down a lot because they still showed out a lot (during Paris),” Meyers said.
Khelif dominated the match from the beginning. After being on the receiving end of a few strong hits, Carini quit the match after only 46 seconds of being in the ring.
“I didn’t give up, but one punch hurt too much and so I said enough,” according to the Guardian.
Khelif was determined the winner, and Carini did not shake hands afterwards. It was this match that caused many people to look at Khelif and question her sex.
She made it through the first round of the Olympics, only to have people interrogate her legitimacy.
“She would have been devastated. However, it seemed to motivate her to win the gold, so she seemed to use it to motivate her to fight harder,” Social Studies Teacher Jamie Paoloni said.
As people became more curious about Khelif, the world became more aware about the “failed gender test” that she took in 2023 for the world championships. However, the specifics of what the test was, or what people were looking for were never made public, and the test was not repeated by that organization,”, according to Reuters.
The same boxing association that deemed her ineligible last year has since been barred and discredited in part due to unethical behavior as well as “compromised ties to Russian Leadership” as stated in an article by Reuters.
“Many people posted on social media, questioning if this will be the last time a female athlete has to undergo a situation like this. Sadly, some probably will. I do not believe this is the last time we will hear something like this. Unfortunately, strong women often have derogatory things said about them, whether it is through physical strength, exceptional cognitive abilities, or women in high positions of power. Gender norms in society still tend to hold women as weaker, subordinate, caregivers so when a woman challenges those norms, it is not uncommon to hear negative things said about her,” Paoloni said.
Life has now returned to normal for Carini, while Khelif is currently in the process of a cyberbullying lawsuit for the hate she received online. JK Rowling and Elon Musk have both been named in the lawsuit, according to the Guardian.
