Tiaret, Algeria: The impoverished, rural hometown of Algerian boxer Imane Khelief erupted in jubilation on Friday as he won gold at the Paris Olympics in the face of huge gender controversy.
In Biban Mesbah, a town of about 6,000 people, chants of the Khalif's name and the country's famous slogan “One Two Three, Viva l'Algerie” began.
“This is a victory for Algeria,” his father, Omar Khalif, told reporters watching the fight on giant screens along with the rest of the village, about 300 kilometers (185 miles) southwest of Algiers.
Villagers fired shots in the air in honor of 25-year-old Khalif's first Olympic medal after defeating China's Yang Liu in the women's 66kg final.
Jubilation also spread to the capital, Algiers, where crowds stormed the city center, celebrating the victory with fireworks and a chorus of car horns.
Algerian President Abdelmajid Tebboune joined the celebrations on social media site X, saying: “We are all proud of you, Olympic champion Imane, your victory today is Algeria's victory and your gold is Algeria's gold.”
Ahead of the Caliph's battle, hundreds of volunteers turned out to help prepare for the big night at Biban Mesbah.
Despite the scorching temperature of 46 degrees Celsius (114 degrees Fahrenheit), the men carried out a massive cleaning operation while dozens of women were busy cooking giant couscous.
“We agreed to give a new face to the village and breathe new life into it with the victory of Imane Khelief,” his uncle Monir Khelief, 36, told AFP.
“We all helped each other, some brought couscous, some brought oil and vegetables, while those who couldn't help with the provisions helped with the preparations,” said Amina Saadi, 52, a mother of six.
“We are all united behind Imane Khalif, who has honored Algeria, we can offer him,” she said.
The boxer has been the victim of a social media hate campaign that portrays him as a “woman fighting man”.
“I am a strong woman with special powers. From the ring, I sent a message to those who were against me,” she said after her win on Friday.
A gender controversy erupted in the French capital when Khelief knocked out Angela Carini in 46 seconds of her opening bout, with the Italian reduced to tears and abandoning the fight after suffering a nasty nose injury.
Algerians from all walks of life have shown their solidarity with Khalif, who are outraged that her father was forced to show her birth certificate to journalists to prove she was born a girl.
Khalif's international career began with her participation in the Covid-delayed Tokyo Olympics in 2021, where she finished fifth in her weight category.
In 2023, she made it to the semi-finals of the World Championships in New Delhi.
But she was disqualified after a gender qualification test by the International Boxing Federation, which is not recognized by the International Olympic Committee and does not run the sport in Paris.
From a family of limited means, she spoke before the Games of the hardships of her life in a “village of orthodox people” in semi-desert surroundings.
Imane says her father had a hard time accepting her boxing at first.
“I come from a conservative family. Boxing is not a sport widely practiced by women, especially in Algeria,” she told Canal Algeria a month before the match, smiling easily and her voice soft.
In an interview with UNICEF, she said that she used to sell scrap metal and that her mother sold home-made couscous to pay for a bus ticket to a nearby town.
