Algerian Olympic Gold Medalist Imane Khelif Receives Hero’s Welcome Upon Return Home
TIARET, Algeria — Welcomed by a sea of enthusiastic fans upon her arrival in her hometown on Friday, Olympic gold medalist Imane Khelif expressed gratitude to Algeria for its unwavering support of its athletes and expressed her desire to continue making her country proud in the future.
The football-mad North African nation has showered Khelif with celebrity treatment since she returned to Algiers earlier this week. This has been particularly evident in Tiaret, the predominantly rural region in central Algeria where she grew up and honed her boxing skills.
Khelif and track star Djamel Sedjati were honored by local leaders and then paraded through the streets on a city bus as hundreds of residents cheered, waving their hands and snapping photos.
“All Algerian men and women have the right to be happy and celebrate,” she told reporters Friday at a local government office. “This proves that the government and the people are all behind sports.”
Algerians fiercely defended Khelif as she progressed through the Olympic Games amidst international scrutiny and baseless speculation about her sex.
Despite being born and raised as a woman, she faced accusations and questioning from Western circles about gender, sex, and sports after failing unspecified and non-transparent eligibility tests for women’s competition from the now-disbanded International Boxing Association in 2023.
While figures like billionaire Elon Musk, author J.K. Rowling, and former U.S. President Donald Trump referred to her as a man in online posts, Algerians viewed the controversy as an attack on their nation.
On Friday, Tiaret residents acknowledged the hardships that Khelif faced throughout the Olympics and expressed their hope that her success was just the beginning.
“We hope authorities will support her in moments of victory like this as well as throughout the whole year. She has suffered enormously and started from scratch,” Mohamed Hamou said, sitting next to Khelif in Tiaret on Friday afternoon.
Later at the parade, Nadjia Fehma, another Tiaret resident, reveled in her victory and said she was an inspiration.
“She’s made us really proud, especially given her career path and the way she’s ended up succeeding,” Fehma said.
Khelif’s hometown welcome came days after she filed a criminal complaint for cyber-harassment in France, with her lawyer alleging a “misogynist, racist and sexist campaign” throughout the Olympics.
On Wednesday, Khelif acknowledged the difficulties and fear she felt on El Bilad, a private television channel in Algeria. She said nobody had the right to question her sex and that she wasn’t someone who enjoyed mixing politics and sports.
“Why was there such an outcry all over the world?” she asked. “I was afraid, but thank God, I was able to overcome it.”