INTERVIEW: Imane Khelif's coach says Algeria 'victim' of political fight in Olympics

Record ID: 1832260

  • Title: INTERVIEW: Imane Khelif's coach says Algeria 'victim' of political fight in Olympics
  • Date: 6th August 2024
  • Summary: (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) IMANE KHELIF'S BOXING COACH, MOHAMED CHAOUA SAYING: "I'm very sure she is a woman, despite the so-called tests by the former federation that I don't want to mention by name." CHAOUA SEATED (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) IMANE KHELIF'S BOXING COACH, MOHAMED CHAOUA SAYING: "Imane knows herself, but there are questions in her head and she asks 'why me'? She was ver
  • Embargoed: 20th August 2024 14:19
  • Keywords: Imane Khelif Olympics boxer
  • Location: SAINT-DENIS & VILLEPINTE FRANCE
  • City: SAINT-DENIS & VILLEPINTE FRANCE
  • Country: France
  • Topics: Europe,Olympics,Sport,Editors' Choice
  • Reuters ID: LVA005483106082024RP1
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Algerian boxer Imane Khelif has worked hard to be where she is today and is the victim of a political quarrel, her coach told Reuters in an interview ahead of semi-finals on Tuesday (August 6).
    "We must win the gold, to silence doubters," said Mohamed Chaoua, Khelif's coach since she was a teenager, said in a cafe outside the Olympic village.
    Khelif, one of the female boxers at the heart of a gender dispute at the Paris Olympics, will face Janjaem Suwannapheng of Thailand, whom she beat at the World Championships in 2023 before being disqualified, in Tuesday's semi-finals.
    During the last Olympics in Tokyo in 2021, Khelif came fifth in her category and has not always won her fights, her coach said.
    The IBA said on Monday (August 5) that Lin Yu-ting and Khelif had been disqualified from the 2023 World Championships after a sex chromosome test ruled both of them ineligible.
    The IOC says that the IBA is a discredited organisation, mired in financial opaqueness and compromised by ties to the Russian leadership. It said the genetic tests concerning Khelif and Taiwanese boxer Lin Yu-ting were flawed and illegitimate.
    The dispute has revived debate over the balance between fairness and safety, particularly in women's sports, where differences of sexual development can result in a competitive advantage that might prove dangerous in the case of boxing.
    On the genetic tests, Chaoua said that he is not a doctor but that a panel of 13 experts had backed Khelif's participation in the Paris games, which was approved by the IOC.
    Chaoua met Khelif in her hometown of Tiaret in 2015 and convinced her father to let her box as women's boxing was not common in conservative families.
    She is the eldest of seven siblings, was shy as a young girl, he said, and would help the family at home and economically by selling bread on the road side.
    Ahead of the semi-final due later on Tuesday, the controversy has taken its toll on Khelif, especially after her her Italian opponent Angelina Carini pulled out of their fight after 46 seconds.
    "Iman was greatly affected by this situation. (She said) 'Why me?'," he said, adding that the Italian team and Carini know Khelif well and have faced her in competitions before.
    Carini, who was hit with multiple punches before returning to her corner to withdraw during the bout on August 3, later said she wanted to apologise to Khelif.
    He said that the IBA's payment of $50,000 in prize money to Carini confirmed a conspiracy against Khelif on the part of the association's members, but that she was concentrating on her game.
    "She has not given into this campaign, she has given them a lesson in ethics," he said.
    (Production: Yiming Woo, Joyce Zhou, Imad Creidi)
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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