The final at Court Philippe Chatrierin Roland Garros was between the Algerian, much acclaimed by her compatriots, and Chinese world champion Liu Yang. Standing 1.79 metres (5ft 9in), Khelif was always on the attack, cornering her opponent in the ring on a number of occasions. She won all the rounds and the jury gave her the points, taking home the gold after being at the centre of an Olympic gender eligibility controversy since defeating Italy’s Angela Carini in 46 seconds in her opening bout.

Khelif dictated most of the first round from the centre of the ring and unloaded a flurry of punches on Yang two-thirds of the way through to take the early initiative. The second round started in the same way, with Khelif's punches appearing to carry more snap, power and menace. 

The Algerian was ahead on all the judges' scorecards heading into the third and final round, and she just needed to avoid serious trouble to claim gold. The two embraced at the bell, and after Khelif's comprehensive victory was confirmed, she did a jig in the centre of the ring and thumped her chest. Khelif was paraded around the arena on a team member's shoulders.

"I'm very happy. For eight years this has been my dream and I'm now the Olympic champion and gold medallist. I've worked for eight years, no sleep, eight years tired. Now I'm Olympic champion.", said Khelif, 25, after winning her country's second gold in Paris. She thanked the people who supported her, people from Algeria as well as her team and her coach. 

At the center of  controversy

The Russian-led International Boxing Association (IBA) said on Monday that she and Lin Yu-ting were men, not women,  with XY chromosomes. The IBA is not in the Olympics organization after being banned last year over mutiple concerns.

The IOC has leapt to the defence of Khelif and Lin, with President Thomas Bach saying they were born and raised as women, with the documentation to support it. Neither boxer is known to identify as transgender. The 25-year-old Khelif and Lin both fought at the Tokyo Olympics three years ago but there was no controversy at the time and neither won a medal. 

Chinese Taipei's Lin Yu-ting, the other boxer involved in the Paris 2024 eligibility debate, will fight Julia Szeremeta in her own 57kg final on Saturday.

The 92 kg men's boxing final was contested between Loren Berto Alfonso Dominguez (Azerbaijan) and Lazizbek Mullojonov (Uzbekistan), who claimed the gold medal.

In women's 50 kg, the gold went to China's Yu Wu and the silver to Turkey's Buse Naz Cakiroglu, in a very high level bout between the two world champions. 

As for the men's boxing, in the 71 kg category, gold went to Asadkhuja Muydinkhujaev (Uzbekistan), while silver went to Mexico's Marco Alonso Verde Alvarez.