Algerian triumph at Roland Garros: after days of controversy, Imane Khelifla won the gold medal in the 66 kg category at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games. In the final – played in the ring set up in the center of the Philippe-Chatrier field – the Algerian boxer, at the center of accusations and controversy because she is hyperandrogynous, beat the Chinese Liu Yang on points.
Unanimous verdict of the five judges: a double victory for the new Olympic champion, who proved to be stronger in the ring. A victory desired, desired by all the Algerian people, who now await the return of their favourite to pay her the honours of a heroine of the country. In the temple of the red clay of tennis, she has already been celebrated by thousands of compatriots, crazy with joy for the record of gold medals won in an Olympic Games, two (there was already that of the gymnast Kaylia Nemour) as in the Centennial Games in Atlanta. Even several hours before the decisive match for the assignment of the two most important medals in the women’s welterweight category, there were already many of Khelif’s fans present in the Roland Garros area. Inside, thousands of white and green flags with the red crescent and thousands of voices chanting the name of Imane, who, in truth, in the first moments of the match against the Chinese showed some signs of tension. But in a few seconds, pushed by deafening cheering, the Algerian took control of the match with Yang never able to worry her. Only in the third and final round, the Chinese tried the assault to knock her out (the only chance she had left to win the match), but in these Olympics Imane was stronger than all the opponents she met on her path and all the controversies before and after the match against the Italian Angela Carini, who abandoned after 46 seconds because a punch “had hurt her terribly”. It seems like a long time has passed, in reality only eight days have passed since that first of August: now all this is a memory. Imane Khelif, wrapped in the flag of her country, is triumphant on the shoulders of her coach. When she returns for the celebration in Algeria, she will have the gold medal of the Paris 2024 Olympics around her neck.