"I am a woman like any other," she declared after her triumph. Together with Taiwan's Lin Yu-ting, who fights in the 57kg women's final on Saturday, Khelif was disqualified from last year's world championships after they failed gender eligibility testing. However, they were cleared to compete in Paris, setting the stage for one of the biggest controversies of the Games.

"I was subjected to bullying and a fierce campaign and this is the greatest response to them,” the triumphant 25-year-old told beIN Sports after receiving a phone call from the Algerian president, Abdelmadjid Tebboune.

With the gold medal hanging around her neck, Khelif was asked at a packed press conference about the eligibility row that dogged her Games.

"I am fully qualified to take part, I am a woman like any other. I was born a woman, lived a woman and competed as a woman," she reiterated. "These are enemies of success," she added. "That gives my success a special taste because of these attacks."

The gender furore ignited when Khelif defeated Italy’s Angela Carini in just 46 seconds, with the Italian reduced to tears after suffering a badly hurt nose. 

The International Boxing Association’s (IBA) Kremlin-linked president Umar Kremlev claimed at a chaotic press conference that both fighters had "genetic testing that shows that these are men". The International Olympic Committee is organising the boxing in Paris due to financial, governance and ethical concerns at the IBA. Although Lin and Khelif were thrown out of the world championships in 2023, the IOC cleared them to box in Paris.

"They hate me and I don't know why," she said of the IBA. "I sent them a message with this medal."