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French sports minister takes a dip in the Seine ahead of Paris Olympics

French sports minister takes a dip in the Seine ahead of Paris Olympics
France’s Minister of Sports and the Olympic and Paralympic Games Amelie Oudea-Castera, left, and Tokyo 2020 Paralympics Triathlon gold medalist Alexis Hanquinquant gesture ahead of swimming in the River Seine on Jul. 13, 2024. (AP)
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Updated 28 July 2024
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French sports minister takes a dip in the Seine ahead of Paris Olympics

French sports minister takes a dip in the Seine ahead of Paris Olympics
  • Oudéa-Castéra, dressed in a body suit, dove into the famous river after an initial slip and swam a few meters near the Alexandre III bridge
  • She was accompanied by Alexis Hanquinquant, the Paralympic flag bearer for France
Updated 28 July 2024
AP
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PARIS: French sports minister Amélie Oudéa-Castéra took a symbolic dip in the Seine on Saturday in a bid to ease concerns about water quality before the start of the Paris Olympics.
Oudéa-Castéra, dressed in a body suit, dove into the famous river after an initial slip and swam a few meters near the Alexandre III bridge, where the Olympic open water swimming competition will be held.
“We held our promise,” she said to BFMTV, referring to an earlier pledge to swim in the Seine before the Games begin on July 26.
She was accompanied by Alexis Hanquinquant, the Paralympic flag bearer for France.
Ever since swimming in the Seine was banned in 1923 due to pollution levels, French politicians have promised to make the river swimmable again. Former Paris mayor and later president Jacques Chirac famously vowed in 1988 that the river would be clean enough to swim in by the end of his term, a promise that went unfulfilled.
Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo also plans to swim in the Seine to prove its cleanliness.
In February, French President Emmanuel Macron promised to take a dip, too. But he added: “I’m not going to give you the date: There’s a risk you’ll be there.”
Hanquinquant, a para-triathlete, joined Oudéa-Castéra in Saturday’s swim and experienced firsthand the conditions he will face in competition on Sept. 1.
If water quality issues arise, organizers have backup plans.

Topics: Paris Olympics

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Taekwondo-Tunisia’s Katoussi wins men’s welterweight gold

Taekwondo-Tunisia’s Katoussi wins men’s welterweight gold
Updated 17 sec ago
Reuters
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Taekwondo-Tunisia’s Katoussi wins men’s welterweight gold

Taekwondo-Tunisia’s Katoussi wins men’s welterweight gold
  • Katoussi defeated Barkhordari in two rounds, scoring 4-2 5-1
Updated 17 sec ago
Reuters

PARIS: Tunisia’s Firas Katoussi won the Olympic gold medal in the men’s taekwondo welterweight (-80kg) division in Paris on Friday, beating Iran’s Mehran Barkhordari who claimed silver.

Katoussi defeated Barkhordari in two rounds, scoring 4-2 5-1.

Italy’s Simone Alessio and Denmark’s Edi Hrnic won the bronze medals.

Topics: Paris Olympics

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Algerian boxer Imane Khelif wins gold to cap an Olympics marked by gender dispute
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Algerian boxer Imane Khelif wins gold to cap an Olympics marked by gender dispute

Algerian boxer Imane Khelif wins gold to cap an Olympics marked by gender dispute
Updated 10 August 2024
AP
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Algerian boxer Imane Khelif wins gold to cap an Olympics marked by gender dispute

Algerian boxer Imane Khelif wins gold to cap an Olympics marked by gender dispute
  • Khelif beat Yang Liu of China 5:0 in the final of the women’s welterweight division, wrapping up the best series of fights of her boxing career
  • Cheering crowds embraced Khelif in Paris even as she faced an extraordinary amount of scrutiny from world leaders, major celebrities and others
Updated 10 August 2024
AP

PARIS: Algerian boxer Imane Khelif has won a gold medal Friday at the Paris Olympics, emerging as a champion from a tumultuous run at the Games where she endured intense scrutiny in the ring and online abuse from around the world over misconceptions about her womanhood.
Khelif beat Yang Liu of China 5:0 in the final of the women’s welterweight division, wrapping up the best series of fights of her boxing career with a victory at Roland Garros.
Cheering crowds embraced Khelif in Paris – draping themselves in Algerian flags and chanting her name – even as she faced an extraordinary amount of scrutiny from world leaders, major celebrities and others who have questioned her eligibility or falsely claimed she was a man. It has thrust her into a larger divide over changing attitudes toward gender identity and regulations in sports.
Khelif told SNTV, a sports video partner of The Associated Press, last weekend that the wave of hateful scrutiny she has received “harms human dignity,” and she called for an end to bullying athletes. She also said a gold medal would be “the best response” to the backlash against her.
It stems from the Russian-dominated International Boxing Association’s decision to disqualify Khelif and fellow two-time Olympian Li Yu-ting of Taiwan from last year’s world championships, claiming both failed a murky eligibility test for women’s competition.
The International Olympic Committee took the unprecedented step last year of permanently banning the IBA from the Olympics following years of concerns about its governance, competitive fairness and financial transparency. The IOC has called the arbitrary sex tests that the sport’s governing body imposed on the two boxers irretrievably flawed.
The IOC has repeatedly reaffirmed the two boxers’ right to compete in Paris, with President Thomas Bach personally defending Khelif and Lin while calling the criticism “hate speech.”
“We have two boxers who are born as women, who have been raised as women, who have a passport as a woman and have competed for many years as women,” Bach said.
That hasn’t stopped the international outcry tied to misconceptions around the fighters that has been amplified by Russian disinformation networks. It also hasn’t slowed two boxers who have performed at the highest levels of their careers while under the spotlight’s glare.
Khelif’s gold medal is Algeria’s first in women’s boxing. She is only the nation’s second boxing gold medalist, joining Hocine Soltani (1996).
Hundreds of flag-clad, noise-making supporters of Khelif crowded the paths through the famed Roland Garros tennis complex in Paris and packed the stands, chanting, cheering and waving Algerian flags. Khelif also has become a hero across her North African country where many fans have seen the world’s dissection of Khelif as criticism of their nation.
Khelif’s fight was dubbed “The Night of Destiny” in local newspapers. Projection screens to watch the bout were set up in public squares throughout Algiers and other cities. In the city of Tiaret in the region where Khelif is from, workers braved scorching summer heat to paint a mural of Khelif on the gym where she learned to box.
“Imane has managed to turn the criticism and attacks on her femininity into fuel,” said Mustapha Bensaou of the Tiaret gym. “The slander has given her a boost. ... It’s a bit of a blessing in disguise.”
The gold medal fight is the culmination of Khelif’s nine-day run through an Olympic tournament that began with a bizarre event. Khelif’s first opponent, Angela Carini of Italy, abandoned their bout after just 46 seconds, saying she was in too much pain from Khelif’s punches.
An already brewing story suddenly became major international news, with the likes of former US President Donald Trump and “Harry Potter” author J.K. Rowling weighing in with criticism and false speculation about men competing with women in sports. Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni personally visited with Carini to share her condolences and to cast doubt on Khelif’s eligibility.
Carini later said she regretted her actions and wished to apologize to Khelif. The Italian newspaper La Stampa detailed Carini’s mindset in the days leading up to the bout, describing pressure from both inside and outside her team to avoid the fight amid the growing speculation over Khelif’s status.
Khelif has never done as well in another international tournament as she did in these Olympics. When she was cast as some sort of unstoppable punching machine last week by pundits and provocateurs who had never seen her fight before, opponents and teammates who know her were shocked by the characterization.
Then she lived up to the notion of being one of the best Olympic boxers in the world.
The banished governing body for boxing did nothing to help its argument about her disqualification at the world championships last year during a shambolic news conference in which its leadership contradicted itself about the tests and declined to answer basic questions about them, citing privacy concerns from the Olympic committees of Algeria and Taiwan.
Lin also fights for a gold medal Saturday on the final card of the Olympics. She takes on Julia Szeremeta of Poland with a chance to win Taiwan’s first boxing gold.

 

Topics: Algerian boxer Imane Khelif Imane Khelif

Hometown of Algeria boxer in gender row erupts in joy after Olympic win

Hometown of Algeria boxer in gender row erupts in joy after Olympic win
Updated 10 August 2024
AFP
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Hometown of Algeria boxer in gender row erupts in joy after Olympic win

Hometown of Algeria boxer in gender row erupts in joy after Olympic win
  • Villagers from Biban Mesbah, Imane Khelif’s hometown of 6,000 people, fired shots into the air in honor of their Olympic victory
  • Khelif beat China’s Yang Liu in the women’s 66kg final, overcoming a media hate campaign that portrayed her as a “man fighting women”
Updated 10 August 2024
AFP

TIARET, Algeria: The poor, rural hometown of Algerian boxer Imane Khelif erupted in joy on Friday as she won gold at the Paris Olympics in the face of a major gender controversy.
Cheers of Khelif’s name and the country’s famous chant “one two three, viva l’Algerie” broke out in Biban Mesbah, a town of around 6,000 people.
“It’s Algeria’s victory,” her father, Omar Khelif, told reporters as he watched the fight on a giant screen along with the rest of the village around 300 kilometers (185 miles) southwest of Algiers.
Villagers fired shots into the air in honor of 25-year-old Khelif’s first Olympic medal following her victory over China’s Yang Liu in the women’s 66kg final.

The jubilation also spread to the capital Algiers, where crowds invaded the city center, celebrating the victory with fireworks and a chorus of car horns.
Algerian President Abdelmadjid 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 Khelif’s fight, hundreds of volunteers turned out in Biban Mesbah to help prepare for the big night.
Despite scorching temperatures of 46 degrees Celsius (114 degrees Fahrenheit), the men carried out a vast clean-up operation while dozens of women were busy cooking a giant couscous.
“We agreed to give the village a new face and breathe new life into it, with the victory of Imane Khelif,” her cousin Mounir Khelif, 36, told AFP.
“We all helped each other, some bringing couscous, others oil and vegetables, while those who couldn’t help with provisions helped with the preparation,” said Amina Saadi, 52, a mother of six.
“We are all united behind Imane Khelif, who has honored Algeria, that’s the least we can offer her,” she said.
The boxer has been the victim of a social media hate campaign that portrays her as a “man fighting women.”
“I’m a strong woman with special powers. From the ring, I sent a message to those who were against me,” she said Friday after her win.

The gender controversy ignited in the French capital when Khelif defeated Angela Carini in 46 seconds in her opening bout, the Italian reduced to tears and abandoning the fight after suffering a badly hurt nose.
Algerians from all walks of life have showed their solidarity with Khelif, irritated that her father was forced to show her birth certificate to journalists to prove she was born a girl.
Khelif’s international career took off with her participation at the Covid-delayed Tokyo Olympics in 2021, where she finished fifth in her weight class.
In 2023, she made it to the semifinals of the world championships in New Delhi.
But then she was disqualified following gender eligibility testing by the International Boxing Association, which is not recognized by the International Olympic Committee and is not running the sport in Paris.
From a family of limited means, she spoke before the Games of the difficulty of her life in “a village of conservative people” in semi-desert surroundings.
Imane said that her father initially found it difficult to accept her boxing.
“I came from a conservative family. Boxing is not a widely practiced sport by women, especially in Algeria,” she told Canal Algerie a month before the Games, smiling readily and her voice soft.
In an interview with UNICEF, she said she used to sell scrap metal and her mother sold homemade couscous to pay for bus tickets to a nearby town.
 

Topics: Paris Olympics Imane Khelif Algeria Biban Mesbah Abdelmadjid Tebboune

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Boxer Imane Khelif wins gold to cap an Olympics marked by scrutiny over her sex

Boxer Imane Khelif wins gold to cap an Olympics marked by scrutiny over her sex
Updated 10 August 2024
AP
Follow

Boxer Imane Khelif wins gold to cap an Olympics marked by scrutiny over her sex

Boxer Imane Khelif wins gold to cap an Olympics marked by scrutiny over her sex
Updated 10 August 2024
AP

PARIS: Algerian boxer Imane Khelif has won a gold medal Friday at the Paris Olympics, emerging as a champion from a tumultuous run at the Games where she endured intense scrutiny in the ring and online abuse from around the world over misconceptions about her womanhood.
Khelif beat Yang Liu of China 5:0 in the final of the women’s welterweight division, wrapping up the best series of fights of her boxing career with a victory at Roland Garros.
Cheering crowds embraced Khelif in Paris – draping themselves in Algerian flags and chanting her name – even as she faced an extraordinary amount of scrutiny from world leaders, major celebrities and others who have questioned her eligibility or falsely claimed she was a man. It has thrust her into a larger divide over changing attitudes toward gender identity and regulations in sports.
Khelif told SNTV, a sports video partner of The Associated Press, last weekend that the wave of hateful scrutiny she has received “harms human dignity,” and she called for an end to bullying athletes. She also said a gold medal would be “the best response” to the backlash against her.
It stems from the Russian-dominated International Boxing Association’s decision to disqualify Khelif and fellow two-time Olympian Li Yu-ting of Taiwan from last year’s world championships, claiming both failed a murky eligibility test for women’s competition.
The International Olympic Committee took the unprecedented step last year of permanently banning the IBA from the Olympics following years of concerns about its governance, competitive fairness and financial transparency. The IOC has called the arbitrary sex tests that the sport’s governing body imposed on the two boxers irretrievably flawed.
The IOC has repeatedly reaffirmed the two boxers’ right to compete in Paris, with President Thomas Bach personally defending Khelif and Lin while calling the criticism “hate speech.”
“We have two boxers who are born as women, who have been raised as women, who have a passport as a woman and have competed for many years as women,” Bach said.
That hasn’t stopped the international outcry tied to misconceptions around the fighters that has been amplified by Russian disinformation networks. It also hasn’t slowed two boxers who have performed at the highest levels of their careers while under the spotlight’s glare.
Khelif’s gold medal is Algeria’s first in women’s boxing. She is only the nation’s second boxing gold medalist, joining Hocine Soltani (1996).
Hundreds of flag-clad, noise-making supporters of Khelif crowded the paths through the famed Roland Garros tennis complex in Paris and packed the stands, chanting, cheering and waving Algerian flags. Khelif also has become a hero across her North African country where many fans have seen the world’s dissection of Khelif as criticism of their nation.
Khelif’s fight was dubbed “The Night of Destiny” in local newspapers. Projection screens to watch the bout were set up in public squares throughout Algiers and other cities. In the city of Tiaret in the region where Khelif is from, workers braved scorching summer heat to paint a mural of Khelif on the gym where she learned to box.
“Imane has managed to turn the criticism and attacks on her femininity into fuel,” said Mustapha Bensaou of the Tiaret gym. “The slander has given her a boost. ... It’s a bit of a blessing in disguise.”
The gold medal fight is the culmination of Khelif’s nine-day run through an Olympic tournament that began with a bizarre event. Khelif’s first opponent, Angela Carini of Italy, abandoned their bout after just 46 seconds, saying she was in too much pain from Khelif’s punches.
An already brewing story suddenly became major international news, with the likes of former US President Donald Trump and “Harry Potter” author J.K. Rowling weighing in with criticism and false speculation about men competing with women in sports. Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni personally visited with Carini to share her condolences and to cast doubt on Khelif’s eligibility.
Carini later said she regretted her actions and wished to apologize to Khelif. The Italian newspaper La Stampa detailed Carini’s mindset in the days leading up to the bout, describing pressure from both inside and outside her team to avoid the fight amid the growing speculation over Khelif’s status.
Khelif has never done as well in another international tournament as she did in these Olympics. When she was cast as some sort of unstoppable punching machine last week by pundits and provocateurs who had never seen her fight before, opponents and teammates who know her were shocked by the characterization.
Then she lived up to the notion of being one of the best Olympic boxers in the world.
The banished governing body for boxing did nothing to help its argument about her disqualification at the world championships last year during a shambolic news conference in which its leadership contradicted itself about the tests and declined to answer basic questions about them, citing privacy concerns from the Olympic committees of Algeria and Taiwan.
Lin also fights for a gold medal Saturday on the final card of the Olympics. She takes on Julia Szeremeta of Poland with a chance to win Taiwan’s first boxing gold.

Topics: Paris Olympics

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Spain take gold after 5-3 win against France in Olympic men’s soccer final

Spain take gold after 5-3 win against France in Olympic men’s soccer final
Updated 09 August 2024
AP
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Spain take gold after 5-3 win against France in Olympic men’s soccer final

Spain take gold after 5-3 win against France in Olympic men’s soccer final
  • Spain became the first European gold medalist in men’s soccer since it last won the tournament at the Barcelona Games in 1992
  • Spain’s victory marked a personal double for Fermin Lopez and Alex Baena, who were both part of the Euro 2024-winning squad
Updated 09 August 2024
AP

PARIS: Sergio Camello struck twice in extra time as Spain took gold in the Olympic men’s soccer final after a 5-3 win against France on Friday.
The thrilling win at Parc des Princes completed a golden summer for Spanish soccer — following the senior team’s European Championship triumph last month.
Spain, which lost the final to Brazil at the Tokyo Olympics three years ago, became the first European gold medalist in men’s soccer since it last won the tournament at the Barcelona Games in 1992.
France came back from 3-1 down to send the game to extra time when Jean-Phillipe Mateta equalized from the penalty spot in the third minute of time added on.
But substitute Camello coolly lifted over France goalkeeper Guillaume Restes in the 100th and got his second in the first minute of time added on.
Spain’s victory marked a personal double for Fermin Lopez and Alex Baena, who were both part of the Euro 2024-winning squad.
Barcelona star Lopez scored twice and Baena got Spain’s other goal in a blistering 10-minute spell in the first half which gave them a 3-1 lead at the break after Enzo Millot had opened the scoring for France.
But the game was turned on its head when France mounted a late fightback through Maghnes Akliouche and Jean-Philippe Mateta, who converted a penalty in the third minute of stoppage time to send the game to extra time.
The dramatic climax sent the home fans wild as they chanted “Alez Les Bleus” and roared their team on.
And while Camello’s goals ultimately ended French hopes of a first gold since Los Angeles 1984 the crowd continued to cheer loudly as coach Thierry Henry and his players showed their appreciation with a lap of honor after the final whistle.
“It was a crazy final, at the end we got a medal,” Henry said. “Unfortunately, we are not Olympic champions, but you can’t take anything away from this team.”
Camello’s second goal, racing away from his own half before firing past Restes, sparked frenzied celebrations from the Spanish.
The forward tore off his shirt and was swamped by teammates and substitutes, who piled onto the field from the touchline.
He had only come as substitute in the 83rd as Spain tried to protect their lead in regulation — but ended up a national hero.
Spain’s victory ended the dominance of Latin American nations for the last five editions of the Olympics. Brazil and Argentina won twice in that time, with Mexico also taking gold.
Nigeria won at Atlanta 1996 and Cameroon at Sydney 2000.

Topics: Paris Olympics Spain France Sergio Camello Fermin Lopez

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