With thousands of Algerian fans waving flags and chanting her name, Algerian boxer Imane Khelif today easily beat Janjeam Suwannapheng of Thailand in a unanimous decision to advance to the finals of the women’s 66kg competition. She’ll fight for a gold medal later this week. 

As Khelif has become a polarising figure at this Olympics, she has fought better and better, and she easily moved through the semifinal bout. Late in the fight, she knocked Suwannapheng back, forcing a count from the official. After the bout, she hugged her coaches while music blared and Algerian fans danced in the aisles. 

Khelif skipped victorious circles around the ring and then left the arena to fans still calling her name. 

Khelif and Taiwanese 57 kg boxer Lin Yu Ting have been the targets of what the International Olympic Committee has described as “hate speech” and “abuse” because they were disqualified from last year’s world championships, for what the International Boxing Association described “a failure to meet eligibility rules”. 

Imane Khelif after winning the Women's 66kg Quarter-final round match against Anna Luca Hamori on Hungary on August 3. 

Umar Kremlev, the Russian sports minister who runs the IBA, and other IBA officials have said the tests showed the women, who are not transgender, have XY chromosomes, suggesting they held a testosterone-based advantage over other women, who typically have XX chromosomes. The IBA has not produced proof of the test results, including during a Paris news conference on Monday. 

The controversy ignited last week, when Italian boxer Angela Carini quit her fight with Khelif after taking a punch less than a minute into the bout. A barrage of attacks followed, including from former President Donald Trump, author J.K. Rowling and billionaire Elon Musk, creating a ferocious debate about gender in sports. 

The IOC cut ties with the IBA last year, citing Kremlev’s close ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin, financial irregularities and allegations of election rigging to keep Kremlev in power. IOC officials say Kremlev and the IBA, and therefore any tests they say they administered, are not credible. 

“The method of the testing, the idea of the testing, which happened overnight – is not legitimate,” IOC spokesman Mark Adams said. 

Executives from the IOC and USA Boxing, which is working to develop a new federation to run Olympic boxing, say Kremlev’s goal is to disrupt the Paris Olympics, in which neither the IBA nor Russia is participating. 

• Why the two women in gender row can compete in Olympic boxing
• Gender eligibility rules furore hits boxing after 46-sec stoppage

At their news conference this week, Kremlev and other IBA officials claimed tests dating back to the 2022 world championships suggested the two fighters had an advantage, and they said they were worried about the safety of other female fighters at the Olympics. But they never acted on these concerns in the months leading up to the 2023 world championships. The two boxers, who had fought for years without issue until the 2023 disqualification, were allowed to fight after the disqualifications as well. 

IOC and USA Boxing officials have pointed out that the disqualifications came just three days after Khelif beat Russian boxer Azalia Amineva, removing the only blemish from Amineva’s still-undefeated record. 

Lin’s semifinal bout against Turkey’s Esra Yildiz Kahraman is tonight. 

Hear it as it happens with live commentary of the Olympic Games Paris 2024 on GOLD SPORT & iHeartRadio, plus comprehensive coverage on Newstalk ZB.