PARIS – With fury in her fists and a stout heart, Algerian boxer Imane Khelif beat the haters that couldn’t identify a chromosome if you spotted them an X and Y.

“I’m a woman,” Khelif said Friday, after kissing a gold medal she fought relentlessly to earn. “I was born a woman. I lived a woman. There’s no doubt about that.”

After defeating Yang Liui of China with a unanimous, lopsided decision in the welterweight division, she is an Olympic champion.

Hear her roar.

And the message?

“My dignity and honor is above all else,” she said.

In victory, Khelif sat atop her coach’s shoulders and paraded around Roland Garros stadium as proud Algerians waved flags and sang. The first woman from the Arab world to win boxing gold pumped fists in defiance at bullies around the globe that fostered hate with unfounded accusations Khelif is not a woman, but a man pummeling female competitors.

“These people (who claim I am not a woman), they are enemies of success. It’s what I call them. It gives my success a special taste because of these attacks,” Khelif said through an interpreter at a press conference after the medal ceremony.

For more than a week, the Summer Games became a battlefield for culture wars. Khelif was caught in the crossfire of an intense and often ignorant debate on gender identity.

The spark that ignited the firestorm was a now-disputed decision by the International Boxing Association to ban Khelif from the 2023 championships due to high testosterone levels, although test details were not revealed.

In the kangaroo court of public opinion, it made no difference that the International Olympic Committee cleared Khelif to participate in the 145-pound classification in France.

After her fists apparently broke the nose of Angela Carini during the tourney’s round of 16, causing the Italian boxer to quit the match 46 seconds into the bout with a plea to her coach that it wasn’t a fair fight, Khelif became a punching bag in gender politics, the victim of our post-truth society, where liars invent whatever facts best suit them.

During a campaign speech in Georgia, candidate for U.S. president Donald Trump falsely accused Khelif of being a transgender athlete, insisting, “It’s a person that transitioned. He was a good male boxer.”

And JK Rowling, the creator of Harry Potter, bashed what she decried as the Olympic circus, demanding an explanation why “you accept that a man beats a woman in public for your entertainment.”

Well, maybe a better argument is why civilized society stands up and lustily cheers when two human beings, regardless of gender, attempt to smash gray matter against the skull of a foe in a boxing ring.

But let’s get down to the real nitty gritty. Why have a nuanced discussion about the X and Y chromosomes, when it was far easier to stone Khelif for the “sin” of her androgynous physique?

“Women must be allowed to take part in women’s competitions,” IOC president Thomas Bach said. “It’s not as easy (as those) in this cultural war may want to portray it, that the XX or XY is a clear distinction between men and women. This is not scientifically true anymore.”

Yes, I understand the discomfort that a gender-neutral bathroom at a stadium might cause you. While I wish any man that transitions to female a fruitful pursuit of happiness, that doesn’t include the right to compete against women in the swimming pool or on the track. And the commotion caused by Khelif should prompt all athletic governing bodies to craft more precise gender tests.

But this much is also true: Weak men are threatened by strong women. Colorado native Anna Hall, who finished fifth in the heptathlon in Paris, made a fair point when she declared: “Stop telling female athletes they look like men.”

As Khelif rocked Yang with wicked jabs to decisively win all three rounds on the scorecards of all five judges, female Algerian spectators filled the stadium with the zaghrouta, a high-pitched staccato chant.

“Algerian women,” Khelif said, “are known for their strength and strong will.”

As the clock approached midnight, she caressed her hard-earned gold medal and stood on a podium in the center of a boxing ring, singing her national anthem with the fierce pride of a lioness.

In one of the more inspiring scenes in Olympic history, women that refuse to be bullied wrapped a true daughter of Algeria in love and gave Khelif the strength to roar.