Paris 2024

Hungarian boxer defeated by Algeria’s Khelif says she respects her opponent

‘I have respect for her, I don’t have a bad thought for her, this situation is not her fault’

Algeria's Imane Khelif is confirmed the winner over Hungary's Luca Anna Hamori in the Olympic women's 66kg quarter-finals at the North Paris Arena. Photograph: Isabel Infantes/PA Wire
Sat Aug 03 2024 - 18:58

Hungarian welterweight boxer Luca Anna Hamori said on Saturday she lost fairly to Imane Khelif, the Algerian who has been at the centre of an eligibility storm at the Paris Olympics.

Khelif beat Hamori on a unanimous decision in the Olympic quarter-finals and her opponent said she had no complaints.

“I cannot say a single bad word about my opponent,” Hamori, who hugged Khelif after the final bell, told reporters.

“The last few days have been difficult for everyone. I have respect for her, I don’t have a bad thought for her, this situation is not her fault,” she said.

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“We both put up a fight, that’s the way it is now, it could be different in the future. The situation has not ruined my Olympics at all.”

Khelif, a silver medallist at the 2002 worlds, and Taiwanese featherweight Lin Yu-ting, have been in the spotlight at the Paris Games after a gender row that has dominated headlines and been much discussed on social media.

The pair fell foul in 2023 of International Boxing Association (IBA) eligibility rules, which include preventing athletes with XY chromosomes from competing in women’s events. The IBA did not specify on what grounds they failed.

It has never been shown that they have a genetic condition giving rise to a Difference of Sexual Development (DSD) and the two boxers were cleared to fight in Paris by the International Olympic Committee (IOC).

Italian prime minister Giorgia Meloni raised the issue with IOC chief Thomas Bach after Italian boxer Angela Carini pulled out during her round-of-16 bout against Khelif after sustaining a series of crushing blows.

Balazs Furjes, Hungary’s IOC representative, said there was never a question of Hamori not fighting Khelif.

Asked whether he believed it was a fair fight, he said: “As loyal members of the international Olympics family, we are 100 per cent convinced, 100 per cent convinced that the International Olympic Committee will make the right decisions.”

“We Hungarians are always ready to fight bravely and that’s what Luca has just done and showed us. We’re not afraid of difficult circumstances and we are ready to fight even in difficult circumstances.”

Hamori added: “I wish good luck to my opponent and the others in the finals.”