On Thursday, 1st August, Imane Khelif of Algeria won ‘her’ first Olympic boxing battle as her opponent, Angela Carini of Italy, abandoned the match after 46 seconds. Khelif was excluded from the 2023 world championships for failing a gender eligibility test, and ‘her’ appearance at the Paris Olympics has currently sparked controversy.
Carini abandoned the battle after receiving two huge punches from Khelif, which is uncommon in Olympic boxing. The fight between Angela Carini and Imane Khelif lasted only 46 seconds, after which the Italian boxer threw her helmet onto the floor, abandoned the clash, and yelled, ‘This is unjust.’
The 25-year-old entered the ring at the North Paris Arena to a storm of enthusiasm, but the fight ended abruptly, confusing the spectators.
Carini then refused to shake Khelif’s hand after Khelif was declared winner, she fell to her knees and burst into tears in the ring before departing. She said that she had never felt such strong blows in a contest before. “I have always honored my country with loyalty. This time, I didn’t win because I couldn’t fight anymore. So I ended the match,” Carini stated.
She further said, ‘I’m used to suffering. I’ve never taken a punch like that, it’s impossible to continue. I’m nobody to say it’s illegal.’
“I have never been hit so hard in my life. It’s up to the IOC to judge,” she added while talking to media after the fight.
“I have never been hit so hard in my life. It’s up to the IOC to judge.”
— Pete Badel (@badel_cmail) August 1, 2024
Italy’s Angela Carini after lasting just 46 seconds against Algeria’s intersex athlete Imane Khelif.
Biological firestorm at Paris Olympics. pic.twitter.com/BQRTF9Dc3m
Carini’s coach said that some people had advised Carini to not contest against a ‘man’, saying it would be dangerous.
Khelif is a skilled amateur who earned a silver medal at the International Boxing Association’s 2022 global championship. However, The same governing board disqualified her from last year’s championships in Delhi just before her gold medal match, as he failed a gender test, along with another ‘female’ boxer, Lin Yu-ting of Taiwan. As per IBA president Umar Kremlev, DNA tests had proved they had XY chromosomes and were thus excluded from the sports events. They also had elavated levels of testosterone. This means that the tests show that they were biological males and went through puberty as males.
Despite being disqualified by the International Boxing Association, Khelif is able to participate in the Olympics because IBA has been banned from running the Olympic boxing tournament in Paris because of old issues regarding governance, finance and some judging scandals. As a result, boxing matches are being organised by IOC’s Paris 2024 Boxing Unit, which has more relaxed rules than the IBA on gender issues.
Notably, the IOC has been criticised for clearing Khelif and Lin Yu-ting to compete in Paris despite their disqualification by the IBA for failing gender tests. IOC spokesman Mark Adams said earlier, “Everyone competing in the women’s category… is complying with competition eligibility rules.” He argued their passports mention that they are women.
Lin won the IBA world championships in 2018 and 2022, but the governing organization stripped ‘her’ of a bronze medal last year, stating she failed to meet eligibility conditions in a biochemical test. The IOC’s official website acknowledges that both boxers failed gender eligibility tests last year. Lin will meet Uzbekistan’s Sitora Turdibekova in a featherweight match on Friday.
The Algerian Olympic Committee released a statement on Wednesday defending Khelif. They claimed that it was ‘unethical targeting and maligning of our esteemed athlete, Imane Khelif, with unfounded propaganda from certain foreign media outlets.’
