Paris Olympics: Algeria's Imane Khelif wins gold, defeats China's Yang Liu in women's Welterweight

Imane Khelif

Algerian boxer Imane Khelif defeated Chinese opponent Yang Liu in the 66kg gold medal bout at the Paris Summer Olympics on August 9.

Khelif, 25, claimed a unanimous points decision win over Liu in the final for her first Olympic medal.

“I’m very happy. For eight years, this has been my dream and I’m now the Olympic champion and gold medallist,” she said after the fight. “I’ve worked for eight years, no sleep, eight years tired. Now I’m Olympic champion. I want to thank all the people who have come to support me. All the people from Algeria and all the people at my base. I want to thank all the team, my coach. Thank you so much," she said.

Khelif had been the subject of global attention after defeating Italian boxer Angela Carini in just 46 seconds in a preliminary match.

Khelif was disqualified from the 2023 world championships after failing an unspecified gender eligibility test.

Khelif, born in 1999, grew up playing soccer in her rural village in Tiaret, western Algeria. Now an ambassador for UNICEF, she previously told the U.N. children's agency that it had been ducking the punches of local boys that got her into boxing aged 16.

With agency inputs