Gold medal boxer Imane Khelif given celebrity treatment upon return to Algeria

Olympic gold medalist Imane Khelif was greeted by fans as she arrived in her hometown on Friday. She thanked Algeria for backing its athletes and said she hoped to again make her country proud in the future.

Associate Press went on to report that the football-obsessed North African country has given Khelif the celebrity treatment since she returned to Algiers earlier this week. Nowhere has this been truer than Tiaret, the largely rural region in central Algeria where she grew up and learned to box.