Embattled Algerian Olympic boxer returns home to a hero's welcome

Crowds in Tiaret, Algeria, exploded in celebration Friday for Imane Khelif, the boxer won Olympic gold while fighting off an international storm of lies, online abuse, and uninformed speculation that called into question her eligibility to compete.

Crowds in Tiaret, a rural city of 200,000 in Algeria’s high desert plateau, exploded in celebration Friday night to welcome back Imane Khelif, the welterweight boxer who won an Olympic gold medal while fighting off an international storm of lies, online abuse and uninformed speculation that called into question her eligibility to compete.

Standing in an open-top bus inching its way through a mass of jubilant fans, Khelif waved and posed for pictures alongside track athlete and bronze medalist Djamel Sedjati, also from Tiaret.

Videos of the parade posted on X show crowds dancing to music while gleefully tossing rifles into the air, and families gathered on balconies waving replica gold medals while snapping photos of Khelif, the 25-year-old daughter of a welder who rose to the highest echelons of her sport. Children sat on shoulders and one man was filmed climbing a tree to catch a glimpse of her.

Algerian gold medalist Imane Khelif received a hero’s welcome after fighting for the nation on several fronts.AFP - Getty ImagesAfter Khelif’s dominant first-round victory over Italian boxer Angela Carini, high-profile observers including J.K. Rowling, Elon Musk and former President Donald Trump dragged Khelif into the crosshairs of a debate over sex and gender in sports, spreading misinformation about her sex while undermining the work that it takes to be that good.

“The smirk of a male who knows he’s protected by a misogynist sporting establishment enjoying the distress of a woman he’s just punched in the head,” Rowling wrote under a photo of Khelif’s fight with Carini.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/algerian-olympic-boxer-imane-khelif-heros-welcome-rcna166993

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