Paris 2024 Olympics: “My child is a girl. She was raised like a girl”, the father of Algerian boxer Imane Khelif responds to the controversy
La polémique continue. MAXPPP – Ciro Fusco
In her small village in Algeria, boxer Imane Khelif, who found herself in the middle of a gender controversy during the Paris Olympics, is a “model” of courage and even a “heroine” for her father, who was once reluctant to let her take up the sport.
Cap on his head, surrounded by his youngest children, Omar Khelif proudly shows a photo of his daughter, at the age of 7 or 8, with braided hair and all smiles, as well as a whole series of identity documents and birth certificates.
“My child is a girl. She was raised like a girl. She is a strong girl. I raised her to work and be courageous”, explains this worker in the family living room of a rural and poor village 10 km from Tiaret, a city located about 300 km southwest of Algiers, affected in recent months by shortages of drinking water.
A first for Algeria ?
Imane Khelif faces the Hungarian Luca Anna Hamori (-66 kg) in the quarter-finals on Saturday. A victory and she would be assured of a medal, the first for Algeria. According to her father, Imane beat her Italian opponent Angela Carini in a flash of abandonment and reached the round of 16, simply “because (his) daughter was stronger and the other was weak “.
Imane “has a strong will to work and train”, underlines Mr. Khelif, a 49-year-old unemployed welder. “Since she was little, her passion was sports. In all other sports, she was always in the lead, in running and football,” he recalls. Imane recounted, in a video for Unicef, for which she is an ambassador, that her father initially had difficulty accepting her practice of boxing.
Read also: Paris 2024 Olympics: “A fight that was not on an equal footing", victory in 46 seconds… why Algerian boxer Imane Khelif is causing controversy
“I come from a conservative family. Boxing was not a sport that was very popular with women, especially in Algeria. It was difficult”, she told Algerian television Canal Algérie, a month before the Olympics.
In addition to the prejudices she had to fight, the young woman had to find ways to finance her travel from her small village to the town of Tiaret and then to the capital Algiers, to the point that as a teenager, she sold scrap metal and her mother sold couscous prepared at home.
Omar Khelif willingly poses, fists raised, or raising his muscular welder's arms in a sign of victory and encouragement for his daughter, of whom he has become one of the greatest fans.
"This is our model"
“Imane is an example of the Algerian woman. She is one of the heroines of Algeria. God willing, she will honor us with the gold medal and hoist the national (Algerian) flag in Paris,” he adds, stressing that “that has been our only goal since the beginning.”
In the local Civil Protection sports club where Imane started out, a group of girls of all ages are warming up and jumping rope, before their training under the leadership of Abdelkader Bezaïz. One of them comes forward, throwing dynamic punches into the air.
Read also: VIDEO. Her opponent has “high testosterone levels”: a boxer gives up at the start of the fight at the 2024 Paris Olympics
“We wish her good luck. She is truly the athlete who made us feel proud. She honored the national flag. “It's our role model,” emphasizes Zohra Chourouk, 17, before the whole group breaks into a resounding “good luck”.
The coach also wants to send a message from this club where she started out. “I tell her not to bother with this criticism circulating on social media. Their goal is clear: it's done to confuse her and make her forget why she is” coming to the Olympics.
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