At the 2024 Paris Olympics, Luca Hámori finished fifth after losing to Algerian Imane Khelif in the quarterfinals. The loss was especially difficult, as Khelif was embroiled in a gender controversy, with Khelif’s gender unclear to this day.
Having just won her first professional match and currently preparing for the Brazilian World Cup, Hámori intends to meet Khelif back in the ring in Los Angeles in 2028 and bring home Hungary’s first Olympic medal in the sport for women, writes Magyar Nemzet. She will also be participating in the European Championship this September.
Back in 2024, Hámori was up against a stadium of Algerians. As she said: “When I entered the ring, I was already enjoying it, even though the whole hall was booing me and I was the one who was considered the enemy.”
🇭🇺🥊 #Olympics2024Paris Hungarian boxer Luca Hámori has returned home to Hungary and received a massive reception in her hometown of Kőszeg.
Hámori went up against Algeria's Imane Khelif, who has been embroiled in a controversy surrounding whether or not she is actually… pic.twitter.com/YGlHRYPVIB
— Remix News & Views (@RMXnews) August 8, 2024Khelif went on to defeat Taiwan’s Lin Yu-ting to win gold. Both athletes had been disqualified from the women’s world boxing championships for failing a chromosomal test with the International Boxing Association (IBA) in 2023. The tests clearly proved they had XY chromosomes. However, the IOC, unlike the IBA, decided to allow both of them to compete against biological women at the Olympics.
Khelif had defeated Italy’s Angela Carini in a preliminary match in just under a minute, and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni did not hold back in her criticism. “Athletes with male genetic characteristics should NOT be allowed to compete in women’s competitions!” she told press at the time.
🇮🇹🚨 "Athletes with male genetic characteristics should NOT be allowed to compete in women's competitions!"
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni slams the IOC's decision to allow Algerian boxer Imane Khelif to compete at the Olympics, saying it "does not seem fair." pic.twitter.com/kXLBhw1iPe
— Remix News & Views (@RMXnews) August 1, 2024Later that year, a leaked fragment of a medical report, first reported by the German Bild outlet, stated that Khelif is indeed a “biological male.” Originally written in 2023 by French and Algerian endocrinology experts at the Kremlin-Bicètre Hospital in Paris and the Mohamed Lamine Debaghine Hospital in Algiers, it says Khelif suffers from a sexual development disorder found only in biological males.
The test Khelif underwent allegedly clearly showed that he had no uterus, but had “internal testicles” and a “micropenis” resembling an enlarged clitoris. He also had an XY karyotype and testosterone levels typical of men.
Back home in Hungary, Hámori is as focused as ever. “I have said several times that my primary goal is to qualify for the 2028 Summer Games and win the sport’s first Hungarian women’s Olympic medal there. I discussed this with the federation, the captain and my club coach.”
Calling the defeat by Khelif a gift from fate, she told Magyar Nemzet: “God marked this path for me, and I made the most of it.”
Hámori has been training non-stop with male boxers, although this is not only because of her loss to Khelif.
“I’ve been fighting a lot with both boys and men since then, because here in Hungary I have very few quality female opponents with whom I can train properly,” she said.
She added that this training helps her be her strongest self in the ring against someone like Khelif, as she often faces a wall when entering the ring with a male.
However, Hámori should have nothing to worry about in terms of facing Khelif or Lin Yu-ting in Los Angeles in 2028. The IOC will ban transgender women from competing in women’s events, limiting participation to biological females. This new policy is based on mandatory genetic testing (SRY gene screening). And yet, Hámori maintains that were Khelif to pass, she will be ready.
“I am especially happy about the introduction of gender tests, because from now on, no one can find themselves in a situation like I was in Paris. (…) If Khelif were to successfully pass the test, then, having learned the lessons of our first match, I would gladly box with him again.”
