Imane Khelif has credited eight years of hard work and no sleep for her grand success in winning the Olympic Gold for boxing this year.
Despite all the hardships and backlash that came her way, the star boxer from Algeria says she never looked back. Instead, she chose to convert that negativity into positivity and drive her inner strengths to do better.
‘Yes it’s my dream and I am very happy with all that I have achieved so far. I deserve every bit of the success because that’s how hard I’ve worked to achieve it’- she continued.
The whole of Algeria is happy and celebrating with me, Imane explained. For her, winning gold has been a childhood dream and that didn’t come easy.
Born and raised in a poor neighborhood, she didn’t have the funds to support her dreams. But she baked bread and sold it on the streets to get money to travel and train for boxing championships.
Coming from a conservative background, many didn’t consider boxing as a female sport but she rose above other’s opinions and today, stands proud as a champion.
Khelif beat her opponent from China in the welterweight division to get gold and is said to have performed one of the best fights of her career in that match. Crowds were ecstatic and many were rooting for her, waving Algerian flags and roaring each time she landed a punch. Truly, it’s a dream come true, Khelif explained.