Imane Khelif is Awarded Algeria’s Order of National Merit For Winning Gold at Paris 2024
The 25-year-old boxer was honoured by President Abdelmadjid Tebboune at the El-Mouradia Palace yesterday, alongside gymnast Kaylia Nemour and runner Djamel Sedjati, for their sporting success at this year’s Olympic games
There’s nothing like a homecoming after winning big.
Team Algeria’s Imane Khelif was presented with Algeria’s Order of National Merit for her gold win yesterday, accepting the honour alongside Kaylia Nemour, who won gold on the women’s uneven bars in gymnastics, and Djamel Sedjati, who took home bronze in the men’s 800-metre track race.
The merit was presented by President Abdelmadjid Tebboune at the El-Mouradia Palace in Algeria. Imane and her fellow athletes accepted the honour graciously, sharing their excitement with fans and well-wishers across their respective social media accounts.
Imane beat Team China’s Yang Liu in the women’s 66kg Welterweight finals, after weeks of online harassment and bullying surrounding speculation of the status of her gender (the International Olympic Committee confirmed time and time again that Imane was born female and, therefore, qualifies to compete in women’s boxing.)
“Imane Khelif is a woman. She was born a girl and has lived her entire life as a female – however, despite this joint statement there has been continuous misreporting based on incorrect information that has caused immeasurable pain. This is not only unacceptable, but this is absolutely heart-breaking,” Her Highness said, addressing the International Olympic committee.
Imane Khelif Files Lawsuit in France Against Cyberbullying
As a result, the Team Algeria boxer has now filed a cyberbullying lawsuit in France against social media platform X (formerly known as Twitter), naming author JK Rowling and Elon Musk in the suit.
Although she initially brushing off the haters (“I don’t care” was her reply when first asked about comments and posts calling her a man), Imane eventually called for “the people of the world” to put a stop to bullying and harassment.
“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,” Imane said in a video interview with SNTV 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.”
Images supplied by Instagram/@imane_khelif_10
