Algeria's Olympic medal winners Khelif, Nemour and Sedjati meet President Tebboune

Country's head of state receives successful athletes at Presidential Palace

Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune meets the country's Olympic medallists Djamel Sedjati, Imane Khelif and Kaylia Nemour at the Presidential Palace in Algiers on Wednesday, August 14, 2024. EPA

Algeria's Olympic Games medal winners Imane Khelif, Kaylia Nemour and Djamel Sedjati met the country's President Abdelmadjid Tebboune on Wednesday.

Boxer Khelif, gymnast Nemour and 800m runner Sedjati were invited to meet Mr Tebboune at the Presidential Palace in Algiers.

Khelif, 25, returned to a rapturous welcome in Algiers on Monday after winning a gold medal in the women's -66kg division at the Olympics. She claimed the title with a 5-0 unanimous decision over China's Yang Liu at a sold-out Roland Garros.

The boxer was at the centre of controversy throughout the Games over misconceptions about her gender and on Tuesday named author JK Rowling and Elon Musk in a criminal complaint filed to French authorities over alleged “acts of aggravated cyber harassment", according to a report in US magazine Variety.

The lawsuit was filed against social media platform X, owned by Musk, which under French law means that it was filed against unknown persons.

That “ensure[s] that the prosecution has all the latitude to be able to investigate against all people”, including those who may have written hateful messages under pseudonyms, the magazine reported, quoting Nabil Boudi, the Paris-based lawyer for Khelif.

“JK Rowling and Elon Musk are named in the lawsuit, among others,” Boudi told Variety, adding that former US President Donald Trump would also be part of the investigation. “Trump tweeted, so whether or not he is named in our lawsuit, he will inevitably be looked into as part of the prosecution.”

Nemour became Africa’s first Olympic medallist in gymnastics as she took gold in uneven bars.

The France-born 17-year-old clinched the title ahead of China's Qiu Qiyuan, with American Sunisa Lee snatching bronze.

"I'm so shocked, it's the dream of all my life. I can't believe it has happened, I'm speechless," said Nemour afterwards.

Sedjati won a bronze medal in the 800m final in Paris. The pre-race favourite was beaten by Kenya's Emmanuel Wanyonyi and world champion Marco Arop of Canada at the Stade de France.

Wanyonyi clocked a personal best of 1 min 41.19 secs, with Arop taking silver just one-hundredth of a second behind in a North American record. Sedjati finished in 1:41.50.

After the race, Sedjati said: "I won the bronze medal, but I wanted the gold medal.

"It was a very fast race. I didn't start very well, but I'm very happy with the medal after the medals from Kaylia Nemour in gymnastics and Imane Khelif in boxing.

"I'm very proud to bring home the third medal for Algeria. It's one of the fastest Olympic finals in history, with four runners on 1:41. I already did my maximum to ensure I got on the podium. I'm happy with this bronze medal."