PARIS — When the match was over, her arm raised and her gloves touched, Imane Khelif absorbed the crowd’s enthusiasm and ran with dizzying little steps around the boxing ring that had been transformed into a tennis cathedral.

The Algerian boxer’s jubilation at reaching the Olympic final contrasted with her reaction three days earlier, when she burst into tears on the mat after her quarter-final victory. She was overcome by emotional distress after a week in which her gender was questioned because the circumstances of her disqualification from a major fight last year were still unclear.

But on Tuesday he secured at least the silver medal by beating Thailand’s Janjaem Suwannapheng by unanimous decision on Court Philippe Chatrier at the Roland Garros tennis venue, which will host boxing for the remainder of the Games.

She will face China’s Yang Liu in the 66kg final on Friday night.

Khelif was caught up in a global frenzy last week after her round-of-16 match against Italy’s Angela Carini ended abruptly, reviving the circumstances surrounding her disqualification from the 2023 world championships. Carini withdrew after just 46 seconds after taking a series of heavy punches.

A year ago, the International Boxing Association, which organises the world championships, banned Khelif and another fighter, Taiwanese Lin Yu-ting, midway through the tournament after tests showed they “had competitive advantages over other female competitors”.

Both Khelif and Lin were assigned female at birth and have always competed in women’s categories. The IBA has not made any further statement on its decision and even confused matters further on Monday when officials said they could not reveal the actual results while giving conflicting accounts of the tests.

Lin will compete in the 57kg semifinals on Wednesday.

The IOC, which organizes the Olympic tournament, has repeatedly supported the inclusion of Khelif and Lin.

“They are eligible under the federation rules that were set in 2016 and apply to Tokyo,” IOC spokesman Mark Adams said last week in Tokyo, where Khelif and Lin are also competing. “To compete as women, which they are women. And we fully support that.”

Khelif, his trainer and some members of the boxing community described the IBA’s decision as unfounded.

“They (boxing authorities) have done useless tests, tests that show nothing,” Khelif’s trainer Mohamed Chaoua told SNTV and the Associated Press.

“He will box and fight,” said Roumaysa Boualam, Khelif’s teammate on the Algerian boxing team. “This is not fair, what happened. … We must support him.”

After his match with Khelif, Carini did not participate in the post-match handshake, leading to speculation about his feelings about his fight with Khelif. Carini later apologized in an interview with Italian publication Gazzetta dello Sport.

“It wasn’t intentional, in fact I apologize to him and everyone,” Carini said. “I was angry because my games had already gone up in smoke. I have nothing against Khelif and on the contrary, if I met him again I would hug him.”

Two days later, Khelif defeated Anna Luca Hamori of Hungary in the quarterfinals. After that match, Hungarian IOC representative Balázs Fürjes made prepared remarks that did little to defuse the controversy.

“We are not afraid of difficult conditions and we are ready to fight even under difficult conditions,” Fürjes said. “… We have 100 percent faith that the International Olympic Committee will make the right decisions.”

Khelif is now in the Olympic final at Roland Garros on Friday and one step away from a gold medal.

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(Photo: Mohd Rasfan/AFP via Getty Images)