Imane Khelif's journey: From village girl to Olympic boxing star

Imane Khelif became a professional boxer despite her father's opposition. The Algerian hails from a poor village where every father wants his daughter to marry and have children. The boxer's uncle, Muhammad Khalif, shared her story with "Al Arabiya" and showed the house where she grew up.

Imane Khelif caused significant controversy after her fight against Angela Carini. The Italian stopped the fight after 26 seconds, claiming she had never taken such strong blows and adding that she "feared for her life." Since then, doubts have arisen regarding the Algerian boxer's gender.

The International Boxing Association (IBA) conducted a gender test in 2022, which revealed that the Algerian representative has an XY chromosome. Therefore, the IBA did not allow her to participate in the IBA federation. However, at the end of July 2024, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) ruled that the boxer is a woman and should be allowed to compete as a woman, despite many people doubting it.

Taking advantage of the buzz around Imane Khelif, journalists from "Al Arabiya" traveled to her hometown, Biban Mesbah in Algeria, near the city of Tijarat. It was there that her journey with strength sports began. According to her uncle's stories, the young boxer could walk more than two hours to get to the gym or wait many hours for the bus.

She grew up in an environment where no young girls were expected to become professional athletes. The vast majority were raised with traditional values following religion. Families could not imagine any of them becoming professional athletes, let alone practicing combat sports.

Locals do not accept the idea of a girl boxing. Even her father disagreed and fought against it. He wanted to see her like any other woman from the village, waiting for a groom and getting married. I asked him to let her pursue her favorite hobby, which is sports - said Imane Khelif's uncle to "Al Arabiya".

The living conditions were also against Imane Khelif. She grew up with three sisters and one brother. Her father did not have a high income, and her mother was ill, which forced the boxing champion to do simple jobs to support the family and save money for commutes to Tijarat for training. The boxer's neighbors reported seeing her as a small girl playing soccer, but she became interested only in the gym over the years.

She was an energetic girl. She sold bread in the neighborhood and recyclables. Everything indicated that she would achieve a lot - quotes the words of a neighbor of the boxer mentioned source.

Journalists also spoke with Imane Khelif's younger brother, who is almost ten years old. When asked if he is proud of his sister, he replied: - Now everyone is proud of my sister, as if she were the sister of every Algerian. He added that everyone was emotional during her quarterfinal Olympics fight against Luka Anna Hamori. An extraordinary atmosphere pervaded their home.

Village residents took advantage of the journalists' presence, appealing to the authorities to provide them with adequate access to drinking water and transportation. - Provide us with that, and we will "produce" dozens of heroes like Imane - we read.