Cheering crowds filled the streets of Tiaret, Algeria on Friday evening to welcome boxer Imane Khelif back home as she returned from the Paris Olympic Games where she won a gold medal.
She posted a video of the parade to her Instagram story on Friday, leading the crowd in frenzied cheers as they waved back at her.
Other photos show her standing on the top deck of a slow-moving open-top bus, wearing her gold medal and waving to the crowds in the northern Algerian city around her, as the night sky lights up from hundreds of people holding up their cell phones to take pictures.
Khelif became the centre of global attention after Italian boxer Angela Carini quit their bout in 46 seconds, before she went on to win the women’s 66kg welterweight gold medal a week later.
Some spectators watching her bout against Carini raised questions about Khelif’s participation, citing a 2023 decision by a now-discredited boxing regulator to bar her from a women’s tournament on gender eligibility grounds.
The International Olympic Committee (IOC), however, strongly supported her participation in the 2024 Games, with IOC spokesperson Mark Adams saying she was “born female, was registered female, lived her life as a female, boxed as a female, has a female passport.”
The fight became a flashpoint for an often-misinformed debate about how women are allowed to compete in sports. It also triggered an onslaught of online abuse, with transphobic commentators incorrectly calling Khelif “a man” because of an alleged physical advantage.
With the eyes of the world on her, Khelif progressed through the competition, received huge amounts of support from the crowds watching her fight and eventually won a gold medal.
“I’m very happy. For eight years, this has been my dream and I’m now the Olympic champion and gold medalist,” she said after the fight. “I’ve worked for eight years, no sleep, eight years tired.”
Khelif won one of Algeria’s two gold medals at the Paris Olympics, with gymnast Kaylia Nemour winning the other in the women’s uneven bars.
On their return to Algeria, they were greeted by the country’s president Abdelmadjid Tebboune, alongside runner Djamel Sedjati who won a bronze medal in the men’s 800 meters.
After Khelif won her gold medal, her lawyer Nabil Boudi said she filed a legal complaint with the Paris prosecutors saying Khelif suffered “aggravated online harassment.”
CNN’s Kara Fox and Chris Liakos contributed reporting.
