Imane Khelif declared “I am a woman” in the immediate aftermath of her Olympics women’s 66kg category victory over Luca Anna Hamori, having been reduced to tears following the controversy and gender row surrounding the Algerian.

Khelif, who failed a gender test last year and has been subjected to immense scrutiny while in Paris, ensured that she will leave the French capital with at least a bronze medal after a unanimous points victory over her Hungarian opponent.

After the bout with her previous opponent, Angela Carini, who quit their fight after just 46 seconds and failed to shake Khelif’s hand kickstarted waves of criticism, Khelif enjoyed a low-key affair with victory in the quarter-finals.

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And after her arm was raised, Khelif immediately ran to her corner in tears as she celebrated the win with her team after a turbulent few days at the centre of an Olympic storm.

Khelif continued to cry in the ring before touching gloves with Hamori, a mark of respect between two boxers, and wept profusely before celebrating with the large Algerian contingent in France cheering her on.

Then when she walked through the mixed zone with hoards of journalists waiting to hear her verdict on the fight and online critisim, Khelif had only four powerful words to say: “I am a woman.”

Khelif later broke down in tears once again in an emotional interview with Algerian TV, on a historic day for the country after booking her place in the semi-finals against Thailand’s Janjaem Suwannapheng.

The 25-year-old was disqualified from the women’s World Championships last year for failing the International Boxing Association’s gender eligibility test, along with Taiwan’s Lin Yu-ting, though both have been cleared to compete at the Olympic Games.

Neither boxer identifies as transgender or intersex, with Khelif’s father providing official documents stating that his daughter was born female.

During a press conference on the morning of Khelif’s quarter-final, Thomas Bach, president of the International Olympic Committee, hit back at the “hate speech” directed at the Algerian boxer and Lin in response to criticism of their involvement in Paris.

“Let’s be very clear, we are talking about women’s boxing,” Bach said. “We have two boxers who are born as a woman, who have been raised as a woman, who have a passport as a woman and who have competed for many years as a woman.

“This is the clear definition of a woman. There was never any doubt about them being a woman.”