It was in August when Caster Semenya, the then teenage runner from South Africa, faced public scrutiny over her gender at a showpiece event fifteen years ago. It is still August, and gender row boxer Imane Khelif is set to fight for glory to cap off a bitter-sweet campaign at the Paris Olympics. The Algerian boxer is one win away from sealing a historic gold medal at the Summer Games.

Khelif has been subjected to a torrent of threats over misconceptions about her sex. Boxer Khelif will meet Yang Liu of China in the final of the women's welterweight division at the famous Roland Garros. The Algerian boxer has not lost a single round on the judge's scorecard in the lead-up to the Paris Games final. She produced one of the most dominant runs to an Olympic gold medal match while dealing with a cascade of online abuse.

Gender row

The Russian-dominated International Boxing Association disqualified Khelif and two-time Olympian Li Yu-ting of Taiwan at the World Championships in 2023. It was claimed that the two boxers failed a dubious eligibility test for the prestigious women's competition. In the same year, the International Olympic Committee permanently banned the IBA. The sport's governing body's arbitrary sex tests imposed on the two boxers were labelled "irretrievably flawed" by the IOC.

'Hate speech'

The IOC has backed gender row boxers Khelif and Li Yu throughout the Paris Olympics. IOC president president Thomas Bach called the criticism “hate speech” while extending his support to Khelif and Lin. “We have two boxers who are born as women, who have been raised as women, who have a passport as a woman and have competed for many years as women,” Bach said.

What's at stake for Khelif and Algeria?

Khelif is primed to win gold for Algeria at the Paris Olympics. The gender row boxer has recorded impressive wins in all three bouts at the Paris Games. She is up against Yang, the 2023 world champion. Yang is also the No.2 seed boxer in the women's welterweight division at the Summer Olympics. Already a hometown hero in the African country, Khelif has confirmed Algeria's first Olympic medal in women's boxing. She can also join Hocine Soltani (1996) by winning Algeria's second boxing gold at the Summer Games.

Gold in Paris: Khelif's best response

Speaking to The Associated Press, Khelif mentioned that the wave of abuse she has received “harms human dignity”. Winning gold will be the "best response" to hit back at the detractors for Khelif. Gender row boxers Khelif and Lin have earned the loudest cheers during their bouts at the Paris Games.

Khelif's stellar nine-day run for the gold medal featured an infamous 46-second bout against Angela Carini of Italy. After early exchanges of punches, Carini abandoned the bout. Carini refused the traditional handshake gesture, only to regret her actions, and she later wished to apologize to Khelif.

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