Imane Khelif is coming out on top at the Paris Olympics!
On Friday, the Algerian boxer won her first gold medal after defeating Yang Liu of China in the women’s 66kg category by unanimous decision! Take that haters! See the incredible moment (below):
https://youtu.be/JjqCmlwPHuM?si=S_ljkQjGKuq-oKL3
Related: Olympics Viewers Suffer ‘Second Hand Embarrassment’ For Now Viral Breaking Performance!
Of course, Imane is “very happy” about her accomplishment. According to CNN, she said after the fight:
“For eight years, this has been my dream and I’m now the Olympic champion and gold medallist, 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.”
Amazing!!! What makes her big win even sweeter? It’s the ultimate eff you to all the bullies out there! As you know, Imane has been fighting it out in and out of the ring as she faced intense online bullying from people like Elon Musk and J.K. Rowling. During a preliminary match, Imane was up against Italian boxer Angela Carini. However, Angela abandoned their bout just 46 seconds in. She claimed she was punched so hard she didn’t want to continue the fight, even going as far as to say she felt more “pain” than when she trained with men.
Well, the match sparked a ton of online abuse toward Imane, all because of those comments. Many transphobic people attacked her for being transgender — when she’s not! She is a woman. She was born female. She is not intersex. See, Imane was disqualified from the boxing world championships last year after failing an unspecified gender eligibility test from the International Boxing Association. Mind you, they refused to release the results of their test. This also came after Imane competed FOR YEARS without any issues. And this test doesn’t mean she is a trans woman. She reportedly just had high levels of testosterone and XY chromosomes.
But because she looks masculine, anti-trans folks cruelly bullied her on social media. Well, look who is getting the last laugh now. Imane ignored the awful chatter and came out on top! Oh, and a message for all the haters on the internet! She said after her victory:
“As for whether I qualify or not, or whether I am a woman or not, I have made many statements in the media. I am fully qualified to take part in this competition. I’m a woman like any other woman. I was born a woman, I lived a woman, I competed as a woman, there’s no doubt about that. There are enemies of success, that is what I call them. And that also gives my success a special taste because of these attacks.”
Congratulations to Imane!!! Reactions, Perezcious readers? Let us know in the comments.
[Image via NBC Sports/YouTube, MEGA/WENN, Mario Mitsis/WENN]
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