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Algeria’s Khelif Calls for End to Bullying

Algerian boxer Imane Khelif poses for a photo after an interview with SNTV at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Sunday, Aug. 4, 2024, in Paris, France. (AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda)
Algerian boxer Imane Khelif poses for a photo after an interview with SNTV at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Sunday, Aug. 4, 2024, in Paris, France. (AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda)
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Algeria’s Khelif Calls for End to Bullying

Algerian boxer Imane Khelif poses for a photo after an interview with SNTV at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Sunday, Aug. 4, 2024, in Paris, France. (AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda)
Algerian boxer Imane Khelif poses for a photo after an interview with SNTV at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Sunday, Aug. 4, 2024, in Paris, France. (AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda)

Olympic boxer Imane Khelif said the wave of hateful scrutiny she has faced over misconceptions about her gender “harms human dignity,” and she called for an end to bullying athletes after being greatly affected by the international backlash against her.
The Algerian athlete spoke about her tumultuous Olympic experience on Sunday night in an interview with SNTV, a sports video partner of The Associated Press.
“I send a message to all the people of the world to uphold the Olympic principles and the Olympic Charter, to refrain from bullying all athletes, because this has effects, massive effects,” Khelif said in Arabic. "It can destroy people, it can kill people’s thoughts, spirit and mind. It can divide people. And because of that, I ask them to refrain from bullying.”
The victories of Khelif and fellow boxer Lin Yu-ting of Taiwan in the ring in Paris have become one of the biggest stories of the Paris Games. Both women have clinched their first Olympic medals even as they have faced online abuse based on unsubstantiated claims about their gender, drawing them into a wider divide over changing attitudes toward gender identity and regulations in sports.
The 25-year-old Khelif acknowledged the pressure and pain of enduring this ordeal while competing far from home in the most important event of her athletic career.
“I am in contact with my family two days a week. I hope that they weren’t affected deeply,” she said. “They are worried about me. God willing, this crisis will culminate in a gold medal, and that would be the best response.”
The vitriol stems from claims by the International Boxing Association, which has been permanently banned from the Olympics, that both Khelif and Lin failed unspecified eligibility tests for the women’s competition at last year’s world championships.
Khelif declined to answer when asked whether she had undergone tests other than doping tests, saying she didn’t want to talk about it.
She expressed gratitude to the International Olympic Committee and its president, Thomas Bach, for standing resolutely behind her while the banned former governing body of Olympic boxing stoked a furor around her participation in Paris.
“I know that the Olympic Committee has done me justice, and I am happy with this remedy because it shows the truth,” she said.
She also has seen massive support at her bouts, drawing cheers when she enters the arena and crowds waving Algerian flags chanting her first name. She will fight again Tuesday in the women's 66-kilogram semifinals at Roland Garros.
Khelif repeatedly made clear she won't allow chatter or accusations to deter her from attempting to claim Algeria's first Olympic gold medal in women's boxing.
“I don’t care about anyone’s opinion,” Khelif said a day after beating Anna Luca Hamori of Hungary. “I came here for a medal, and to compete for a medal. I will certainly be competing to improve (and) be better, and God willing, I will improve, like every other athlete.”
Although she is aware of the worldwide discussion about her, Khelif said she has been somewhat removed.
“Honestly, I don’t follow social media," she said. “There is a mental health team that doesn’t let us follow social media, especially in the Olympic Games, whether me or other athletes. I’m here to compete and get a good result.”
Khelif started her Olympic run last Thursday with a victory over Angela Carini of Italy, who abandoned the bout after just 46 seconds. Carini later said she regretted her decision and wished to apologize to Khelif.
That unusual ending raised the chatter around Khelif into a roar, drawing comments from the likes of former US President Donald Trump, “Harry Potter” writer J.K. Rowling and others falsely claiming Khelif was a man or transgender.
The IOC repeatedly declared her and Lin qualified to participate in the Olympics, and it has decried the murky testing standards and untransparent governance of the IBA, which was banished entirely from the Olympics last year in an unprecedented punishment for a governing body.
Khelif clearly felt the weight of the worldwide scrutiny upon her, and her victory over Hamori on Saturday appeared to be cathartic. After the referee raised Khelif's hand with the win, she went to the center of the ring, waved to her fans, knelt and slammed her palm on the canvas, her smile turning to tears.
“I couldn’t control my nerves," Khelif said in the interview. "Because after the media frenzy and after the victory, there was a mix of joy and at the same time, I was greatly affected, because honestly, it wasn’t an easy thing to go through at all. It was something that harms human dignity.”
She had competed in IBA events for several years without problems until she was abruptly suspended from last year's world championships. The Russian-dominated body — which has faced years of clashes with the IOC — has refused to provide any information about the tests.
Algeria’s national boxing federation is still an IBA member.
Khelif is from rural northwestern Algeria, and she grew up playing soccer until she fell in love with boxing. Overcoming her father’s initial objections, she traveled 10 kilometers (about 6 miles) by bus to train for fights in a neighboring town.
After reaching the sport’s top level in her late teens, she struggled early in her career before reaching an elite level. Khelif has been a solid, if unspectacular, international competitor for six years, and she lost to eventual gold medalist Kellie Harrington of Ireland at the Tokyo Olympics.
Khelif’s next bout in Paris is against Janjaem Suwannapheng of Thailand. If Khelif wins again, she will fight for a gold medal Friday.
“Yes, this issue involves the dignity and honor of every woman and female,” she told an Algerian broadcaster in brief remarks Sunday after beating Hamori. “The Arab population has known me for years and has seen me box in the IBA that wronged me (and) treated me unfairly, but I have God on my side.”

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Sha’Carri Richardson’s Comeback Halted by Julien Alfred, Who Brings 1st Olympic Medal to St. Lucia

St. Lucia's Julien Alfred celebrates after winning the women's 100m final of the athletics event at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games at Stade de France in Saint-Denis, north of Paris, on August 3, 2024. (AFP)
St. Lucia's Julien Alfred celebrates after winning the women's 100m final of the athletics event at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games at Stade de France in Saint-Denis, north of Paris, on August 3, 2024. (AFP)
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Sha’Carri Richardson’s Comeback Halted by Julien Alfred, Who Brings 1st Olympic Medal to St. Lucia

St. Lucia's Julien Alfred celebrates after winning the women's 100m final of the athletics event at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games at Stade de France in Saint-Denis, north of Paris, on August 3, 2024. (AFP)
St. Lucia's Julien Alfred celebrates after winning the women's 100m final of the athletics event at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games at Stade de France in Saint-Denis, north of Paris, on August 3, 2024. (AFP)

There were small signs for anyone willing to look that the sprinter Sha’Carri Richardson might not quite match the person she has become.

The wobbly starts. The little details. The meek exit from the Olympic trials earlier this summer after such a promising start.

All the hype aside, Richardson was never a sure thing to win an Olympic gold medal Saturday in the 100 meters. On a rainy and odd evening at the Stade de France, 23-year-old Julien Alfred from St. Lucia showed there’s more than one inspirational story, and more than one great sprinter, at this Olympic track meet.

Alfred romped through the puddles and past Richardson and the rest of a largely depleted field, finishing in 10.72 seconds to throw a brick wall in front of what was supposed to be one of the best stories in Paris.

She beat Richardson by .15 seconds — the biggest margin in the Olympic 100 since 2008 — to bring home the first medal of any color to the small eastern Caribbean island of St. Lucia.

Alfred’s victory completed a journey that included her father’s death in 2013 and a move to Jamaica as a teenager, alone, in hopes of training to become a great sprinter.

“He believed I could do it,” Alfred said, crying as she talked about her dad. “He couldn’t get to see me on the biggest stage of my career.”

Richardson was left with silver — a nice color but certainly not the point of all this after what she’s been through the last three years. Her training partner, Melissa Jefferson, finished third in 10.92 seconds.

Richardson came in as the favorite even though she has hardly been flawless this summer.

Her opening race on the road to Paris included a terrible start at Olympic trials in an event she won with an untied shoelace.

Those starts got marginally better, but after she won the US title in the 100, it was a bit of a shock when she failed to qualify for the 200, thus denying herself a chance at double gold in Paris.

On the gold-medal day in the 100, Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce abruptly withdrew from the event before the semifinal, leaving all three Jamaicans who swept the podium at the Tokyo Games on the sideline for what, at one point, had been billed as the marquee race of the Olympics.

All of which seemed to set up perfectly for Richardson — only when she lined up in the semifinal, she was right next to Alfred, the only other woman in the Olympic field to crack 10.8 this year.

Richardson lumbered out of the blocks and lost that race by .05 seconds. It was a harbinger of things to come, though Alfred said she barely noticed who was in the lane next to her — it was Richardson again — when the final rolled around 90 minutes later.

“Sometimes when I do, I tend to panic,” Alfred said. “So far this year (not paying attention) has been such a good strategy.“

Neither the specter of Richardson on her right again nor the downpour that started about 10 minutes before the race began could slow down Alfred in the final.

Alfred’s opening burst played big when she won the world indoor title earlier this year at 60 meters, and she started strong in this one, with two steps on the entire field at the 40-meter mark. Richardson, as has happened before this summer, labored to get to full speed.

The American, her arms pumping wide in Lane 7, looked to be making up a bit of ground when Alfred leaned into the finish line. But there was too big a gap between them, and the real contest was the one between Richardson and Jefferson for second.

“I’m a baby in this sport,” said the 23-year-old Jefferson, who won the 2022 US title while Richardson was still fashioning her comeback. “I have a lot of learning and growth to do.”

A centerpiece of NBC’s pre-Games’ coverage and the star of a Netflix documentary about track, Richardson did not show up for interviews after her second-place finish. It was a rarely seen breach of Olympic protocol and a move destined to keep the world guessing about a star who has stayed very much on message since her luck started changing this time last year.

In the few interviews she did in the leadup to the Games, she leaned into personal growth, and how she had become a more thoughtful, mindful person since her lowest point in 2021, shortly after she learned of the death of her biological mother.

That triggered a bout with depression, which left her alone in her hotel room in 2021 at Olympic trials, which is where she said she used marijuana. That cost her the trip to Tokyo. It took two years for her to climb back to the pinnacle, and it turns out, the high point came last year at worlds in Hungary, when she won the 100-meter title.

Given where she was at the last Olympics, a silver medal at these ones, with a chance for more next week in the 4x100 relays, isn’t bad.

But hardly anyone had her playing second fiddle to the sprinter from St. Lucia.

Alfred said on race days, she usually wakes up early on to jot down thoughts in her journal.

On Saturday, she kept it simple. “I wrote down ‘Julien Alfred: Olympic champion,’” she said.

Short. Simple. And 100% on target, a lot like the race she ran to become one.

America’s lone gold medal of the day came from Ryan Crouser, who earned a three-peat in the shot put. Another American silver went to the 4x400 mixed relay team, which got reeled in by Femke Bol of the Netherlands in the anchor lap.

Jasmine Moore won a bronze medal in the triple jump competition, won by Thea Lafond, who brought the first Olympic medal to Dominica.

Moore set herself up for a possible double when she competes in long jump later this week.

“Tomorrow, I think I’ll eat, lift, eat some more and enjoy it,” Moore said. “And when long jump comes, just try to have some fun.”

Earlier in the day, Noah Lyles finished second (10.04) in a sluggish first-round qualifying heat to make the semifinals in the men’s 100. The semifinals and finals for that are set for Sunday.