Olympic boxing champion Imane Khelif said she had won for her country’s women as Algeria’s Paris Games medallists received a hero’s welcome at Algiers airport on Monday.
Khelif, who was the centre of a gender controversy at the Olympics on her way to the women’s 66kg title, teenage gymnastics gold medallist Kaylia Nemour and men’s 800m bronze medallist Djamel Sedjati brandished their medals for the waiting fans.
The crowd cheered Khelif with chants of “Tahia Imane” (long-lived Imane).
“The answer lay in the results of each match,” she said. “I wanted to show the strength of performance and the presence of women in general, and Algerian women in particular.”
The International Olympic Committee took over the boxing competition in Paris after losing patience with the International Boxing Association.
The IBA, led by Umar Kremlev, a Kremlin-linked oligarch, retaliated during the Games by saying it had disqualified Khelif and Taiwan’s Lin Yu-ting from its world championships last year because its tests showed “these are men”. The IBA had allowed both boxers to compete in Tokyo three years ago.
Khelif, 25, addressed what she called a “relentless campaign” on Monday.
She said she wanted “to thank the Algerian people who supported me in this ordeal and gave me strength”.
“Algerian women are an example and a model for the whole world,” the boxer said. “Thanks to God, we have restored Algeria’s honor and flown the Algerian flag in Paris, which is the most important thing.”
