How Algerian boxer Imane Khelif overcame ‘tough childhood’ to become sporting hero

It’s not often that a single punch decides the outcome of boxing matches at the Olympics, where knockouts are rarer than in the professional sport.

But a single blow from Algeria’s Imane Khelif was enough to make her Italian opponent Angela Carini throw in the towel, explaining she’d ‘never been hit so hard’ in her life.

Carini’s reaction, combined with Khelif’s failure to meet gender eligibility criteria for last year’s women’s World Championships, has reignited the often toxic row around who should be able to compete in women’s sports.

The organisers, the International Boxing Association have not specified why they disqualified Khelif, who does not identify as either transgender or intersex.

Khelif is not believed to have commented directly on the qualification row but alluded to it last month when she described 2023 as a difficult year.

Asked how she coped with missing the World Championships she told broadcaster Canal Algérie: ‘It was a tough blow for me but I came back stronger to show my strength and determination and show the whole world the brave woman who is Imane Khelif.’

The 25-year-old also told of the hardships she suffered trying to break out of childhood poverty and make it as a boxer, describing her story as ‘impressive’.

Imane grew up in a rural village in Tiaret in western Algeria, a country where opportunities for girls in sport are limited.

She was a keen and talented footballer until the age of 16, when she discovered a knack for scrapping while dodging and defending herself from boys who threatened her and picked fights with her.

But taking up the sport of boxing was a path paved with cultural and financial obstacles which Imane struggled to overcome.

‘It was truly difficult, I come from a conservative region and family. Boxing was a sport dedicated only to men,’ she told Canal Algérie.

‘The toughest thing for me was travelling between my village and the town where I did my training. Those are obstacles I encountered at the start.

Each week she had to take a bus from her village to the training centre 10 kilometres away, but her family could not afford the fare.

‘I ended up selling bread in the street, I picked up crockery and other objects to earn money and be able to travel because I came from a very poor family.’

She also began collecting scrap metal to sell on while her mother sold couscous and set aside the earnings for the travel costs.

‘I had to do that kind of thing in order to keep doing this sport and now I feel like I’m living a dream.’

Imane went on to tell Canal Algérie: ‘I never imagined that one day I’d become a boxer and that I’d become world champion.

‘I always liked football and I played it in my little village, my father always preferred football to boxing.

‘But I was very good at sport at my school and my teacher encouraged me to switch to boxing, given I had good physical qualities, and he was right.

‘My trainer Mohamed Chaouel had called me to the boxing studio and the moment I set foot in the ring, I instantly fell in love with this beautiful discipline.’

Imane is scheduled to continue her Olympian campaign in Paris with a fight on Saturday.

It’s not clear who she’ll face but a win would guarantee her a bronze medal.

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