Khelif took the gold in the women’s welterweight division at the Olympics
After her stunning victory claiming the gold medal Imane Khelif is set to claim a large cash reward for her win.
The Algerian boxer took the gold in the women’s welterweight contest, beating China’s Yang Liu by a unanimous decision.
Imane Khelif and Yang Liu celebrate the final of the women’s welterweight division. (Maja Hitij/Getty Images)
Her win made her only the second person in Algeria’s Olympic history to claim a gold medal at the games.
Khelif’s participation in the Olympics was at the centre of controversy after it emerged that she had failed an unspecified ‘gender eligibility test’ carried out by the discredited International Boxing Association (IBA).
The IBA was dropped by the International Olympic Commission (IOC) amid allegations of corruption.
These centred around the IBA’s president Umar Kremlev who has ties to Vladimir Putin, as well as the IBA’s main sponsor being the Russian state-owned energy company Gazprom.
But despite a tsunami of misinformation and abuse being directed at Khelif online she has gone on to win the gold medal in her category.
Khelif took the gold medal. (Richard Pelham/Getty Images)
Believe it or not Olympians aren’t actually guaranteed a cash prize if they win a medal, though obviously the medal itself does have financial value.
However many countries have awards systems in place where medallists are granted a cash prize by their home country’s Olympic organisation, rather than by the Olympics itself.
But it does vary a lot from country to country, and from sport to sport as well.
While one athlete winning the gold might take home $15,000, other countries can see athletes taking home as much $750,000.
Not that $15,000 is to be sniffed at, but with $750,000 you’re effectively set for life if you’re smart about it.
But what Khelif’s prize money?
Khelif celebrates her victory. (Maja Hitij/Getty Images)
After weeks of struggle, Khelif’s gold medal means that she will take home a cash prize of just over $100,000, around $100,209 to be precise.
Of this, she will be able to keep half with the other half being divided up between her coach and the Algerian boxing federation.
As for the silver medal, that stands at just under $50,000, and will be taken home by China’s Yang Liu.
Speaking after her gold medal victory, Khelif hit back at the relentless abuse she has been subjected to online and said it only made her victory sweeter.
She told reporters: “I’m a woman like any other woman. I was born a woman, I lived a woman, I competed as a woman, there’s no doubt about that.
“[Detractors] are enemies of success, that is what I call them. And that also gives my success a special taste because of these attacks.”
