Imane Khelif beat Anna Luca Hamori via unanimous decision in their women’s welterweight quarter-final clash at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games on Saturday afternoon.
Khelif could be seen growing in confidence throughout the bout as the fans inside the North Paris Arena chanted her name.
Luca Hamori had her moments but struggled to find her distance, allowing Khelif to dominate from the opening round – with the one judge scoring the bout 10-8 in the Algerian’s favour.
Khelif was, however, docked a point for holding in the third and final round of the bout. Although, it made no difference considering how wide the judges scorecards were.
Khelif thanked the fans before dropping to her knees and pretending to write on the canvas. The Algerian could be seen wiping away her tears as her team ushered her out of the ring.
Imane Khelif beat Anna Luca Hamori via unanimous decision in their women’s welterweight quarter-final clash at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games on Saturday afternoon
Khelif was, however, docked a point for holding in the third and final round of the bout. Although, it made no difference considering how wide the judges scorecards were
The 2024 Paris Olympic Games have been marred by controversy following a heated debate over the participation of Khelif in the women’s boxing category. The dispute centers around questions of gender identity, fairness in competition, and the integrity of Olympic sports.
Khelif is one of two athletes—alongside Taiwan‘s Lin Yu-ting—who have been authorised to compete in the Paris 2024 after being disqualified from last year’s Women’s World Championships for allegedly failing gender eligibility tests.
The International Olympic Committee (IOC), which is overseeing boxing at the Paris 2024 Games but did not organise the World Championships, said that Khelif was disqualified in India due to elevated testosterone levels.
However, after receiving a bye in the first round at the Olympics, Khelif—who also competed in the Tokyo Games—faced criticism following her bout with Italian boxer Carini.
Within the first 30 seconds of their clash, Carini was hit in the face and went to her corner to have her headgear adjusted by her coach, with reports stating she had broken her nose.
Although she briefly continued, Carini barely threw a punch before telling her corner ‘it’s not fair’ and then abandoning the match ‘for her own safety’ – instantly dropping to her knees and crying.
‘I wasn’t able to finish the match. I felt a strong pain to my nose and I said [to myself] for the experience that I have and the maturity as a woman that I have, I said I hope my nation won’t take it badly, I hope my dad won’t take it badly – but I stopped, I said stop for myself,’ Carini told BBC Sport after the fight.
‘It could have been the match of a lifetime, but I had to preserve my life as well in that moment. I didn’t have fear, I don’t fear the ring. I don’t fear taking the blows. But this time there’s an end for everything, and I put an end to this match, because I wasn’t able to [continue].’
Khelif is seen shouting in the ring during her controversial clash with Italian Carini
After the match was stopped, the referee raised Khelif’s hand in the air. But a visibly furious Carini yanked her own hand away from the fight official and walked off.
During the rapid fight, Carini was rocked by two punches from Khelif and said the savage force of the blows made it ‘impossible to continue’.
Ignoring the Algerian after calling a halt to the bout, the Italian fighter then plunged to her knees and burst into tears – later saying she said she had never felt such strong blows in a contest before.
Speaking after the match, the heartbroken Italian 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 got into the ring to fight. But I didn’t feel like it anymore after the first minute. I started to feel a strong pain in my nose. I didn’t give up, but a punch hurt too much and so I said enough. I’m leaving with my head held high.’
She said she did not walk away from the fight as a protest against her opponent’s inclusion, but that was a decision for the Olympics to consider.
With her Olympic dreams in tatters after just 46 seconds, the crestfallen Italian fighter Carini fell to her knees and wept
The Italian fighter (in the blue) refused the handshake and fell to the canvas and appeared to wipe away a tear. Winner Khelif is pictured in the red as her opponent leaves the ring
Female Italian boxer Angela Carini (in the blue) says she stopped her Olympic bout against opponent Imane Khelif (right) to ‘save my life’
Asked why she knelt at the end of the match, she said it was for her late father, who died in 2021, before adding: ‘I am sorry not to have taken Italy on to the podium.’
She was taken away for medical assessment to examine the seriousness of her facial injuries which included a bruised nose.
Lin Yu-Ting has also been at the center of the controversy after the Taiwanese boxer, who had previously failed a gender test, won decisively against her opponent, leaving them in tears.
Yu-Ting needed the full three rounds to beat Uzbekistan’s Sitora Turdibekova but the decision to allow the fight to go ahead in the first place sparked fury from women’s rights activists and other athletes.
Sex Matters’ Maya Forstater reacted with outraged emojis to a video of the conclusion of the bout, where a commentator quips ‘job done’.
Former elite marathon runner and two-time Olympian Mara Yamauchi further slated the fight on X, saying ‘shame on the IOC for allowing this’.
Algeria’s Imane Khelif (in red) defeated Angela Carini of Italy after jus 46 seconds of theirw omen’s 66kg preliminary round match at the Paris 2024 Olympics yesterday
Italian boxer Angela Carini said she had to quit her fight with Khelif to ‘save my life’
She said: ‘Another female boxer loses to a male at Paris 2024. This is unfair, unsafe & wrong. When males don’t win by miles in the female category, it shows they aren’t very good, not that they don’t have male advantage.
‘Shame on the IOC for allowing this.’
Another person commented on X: ‘Either way she shouldn’t be at the Olympics. If banned in the world boxing championships because of unfair advantage she should not be allowed to compete in the Olympics.’
Jonathan Campbell said: ‘Use your brain… if another woman tested high on testosterone they would of been disqualified because of unfair advantage.
‘That’s why this person shouldn’t be boxing another woman that doesn’t have that advantage.’
Another user said: ‘It is a ludicrous, completely unfair and dangerous state of affairs, surely common sense must prevail soon.’
One user added: ‘This is beyond absurd.’
‘Lin Yu Ting was banned from the 2023 women’s boxing World Championship for having XY chromosomes.’
Lin was registered female at birth, New Taipei City Councilor Cho Kuan-ting said in a Facebook post on Wednesday, explaining how her national identification number begins with a ‘2,’ the designation for females, while males are assigned a ‘1.’ The number cannot be altered, according to Hsinchu City Government.
However the clash today sparked controversy on the basis that Lin failed a gender eligibility test at last year’s World Championships.
Lin – who has come into the Olympics as the top seed – lost her bronze medal after she failed to meet the International Boxing Association’s unspecified eligibility criteria.
Lin had won a bronze medal in the women’s featherweight competition at the World Championships before she was stripped of the prize last year.
Lin triumphed at the Asian Games last year to secure a place at a second Olympic Games
She had won three fights before losing in the semi-finals to Kazakhstan’s Karina Ibragimova.
In an interview with Liberty in 2013, Yu-Ting, a two time world champion, was just 17-years-old when she made the shock revelation that she took up the sport to protect her mother from domestic violence.
Her coach Zeng Ziqiang said Yu-Ting learned boxing because she felt sorry for her mother who was repeatedly beaten by her father.
Following her success she was given a 40,000 Taiwanese dollar education scholarship and she then gave future prize money to her mother to support her family after her father walked out on them at their home in New Taipei City.
The International Boxing Association (IBA) – who have been stripped of recognition amid a series of governance issues – later stripped Lin of the medal, with the organisation stating the boxer had failed to meet eligibility requirements.
Khelif’s triumph yesterday was marred by controversy, with her Italian opponent withdrawing in tears after just 46 seconds and telling her corner: ‘It’s not fair.’
The fight has attracted backlash with gold medal-winning Team GB boxer boxer Nicola Adams posting: ‘I stand wit Angela Carini’.
The trailblazer slammed the decision to let the fight go ahead as ‘unfair and dangerous’.
She said: ‘After years of fighting for women’s boxing to even exist in the Olympics and then all the training they go through to get there it was hard to watch another fighter be forced [to] give up on her Olympic dreams.
‘People not born as biological women, that have been through male puberty should not be able to complete [sic] in women’s sport. Not only is this unfair it’s dangerous!’
There is no evidence or claim that either athletes have been through male puberty. The pair were ruled ineligible after they ‘failed to meet eligibility rules, following a test conducted by an independent laboratory’.
Sex Matters director of campaigns Fiona McAnena said the International Olympic Committee, which oversees the Games, should be ‘ashamed’.
She said: ‘It’s grossly unfair that at the pinnacle of her sporting career, Italian boxer Angela Carini had to concede for her own safety.
‘The look of sheer pain and devastation in her face at that moment should be enough to end the absurd and dangerous spectacle of men in women’s sport once and for all.
Lin Yu-ting (pictured), who like Khelif was disqualified from the Women’s World Championships last year, will take to the ring on Friday in the featherweight division
‘People are rightly outraged, and the IOC should be ashamed, but they seem to be shameless as this is their policy in action.
‘Male advantage used against women makes nearly every sport unfair, and some sports unsafe, including boxing. This is still being played out in many sports worldwide.’
Bosses at the IOC are now facing a furious backlash following the fight, with former Prime Minister Liz Truss blasting the clash.
Writing on Twitter, the ex-Tory MP said: ‘When will this madness stop? Men cannot become women. Why is the British Government not objecting to this?’
British Olympics swimming hero Sharron Davies also waded into the controversy, raging: ‘This is shocking. The IOC are a bloody disgrace. In effect legalising beating up females. This must stop!!! What the hell’s the matter with them?’
While Harry Potter author JK Rowling branded the contest ‘insanity’. In a post yesterday, the gender-critical author wrote: ‘What will it take to end this insanity? A female boxer left with life-altering injuries? A female boxer killed?’
Posting a video of the fight, the author added: ‘Watch this (whole thread), then explain why you’re OK with a man beating a woman in public for your entertainment. This isn’t sport. From the bullying cheat in red all the way up to the organisers who allowed this to happen, this is men revelling in their power over women.’
And speaking to MailOnline, sports scientist Professor Ross Tucker said: ‘Would you allow a 90kg fighter to fight against a 60kg fighter?
‘Because that’s more or less what the difference is in strength and power between male and female boxers.’
Elon Musk, the owner of the social media platform X, endorsed efforts to get a campaign in support of Carini trending.
American swimmer Riley Gaines, who has campaigned for women’s rights in her sport, wrote on the platform: ‘Men don’t belong in women’s sports. #IStandWithAngelaCarini Let’s get it trending.’
Musk quoted Gaines’ post and replied: ‘Absolutely.’
But the IBA was stripped of its recognition by the IOC last year over governance and finance issues, with the Olympic body running the boxing competition in Paris.
Yu Ting Lin looks on after winning the Women’s 57kg preliminary round match against Sitora Turdibekova
Ting Lin having her hand raised after winning her fight against Turdibekova
The IOC said in a statement yesterday: ‘These two athletes were the victims of a sudden and arbitrary decision by the IBA.
‘Towards the end of the IBA World Championships in 2023, they were suddenly disqualified without any due process.
‘According to the IBA minutes available on their website, this decision was initially taken solely by the IBA Secretary General and CEO.’
Some sports have limited the levels of testosterone allowed for athletes competing in women’s competition, while others ban everyone who has been through male puberty.
Differences of Sexual Disorder are a group of rare conditions involving genes, hormones and reproductive organs.
Some people with DSDs are raised as female but have XY sex chromosomes and blood testosterone levels in the male range.
The IOC said the rules of eligibility were based on those of the Tokyo Games in 2021 and could not be changed during a competition.
The governing body added: ‘The IOC is saddened by the abuse that the two athletes are currently receiving. Every person has the right to practice sport without discrimination.’
Turdibekova conducting her post-fight interview after losing to Ting Lin
But in its own statement, the IBA condemned ‘inconsistencies in eligibility’ at the Paris Games, adding: ‘Both Imane Khelif and Lin Yu-ting post testing, did not meet the required eligibility criteria to compete within the female category of our respective events.
‘The urgent nature of the decision (to disqualify the boxers) was justified, as the safety of our boxers is our top priority.’
In a newly-unearthed interview filmed ahead of the Games, Khelif opened up about bouncing back from her ban over elevated testosterone levels and declared: ‘I wanted to show the whole world what a brave woman Imane Khelif is.’
Speaking earlier this week, International Olympic Committee spokesperson Mark Adams said: ‘Everyone competing in the women’s category is complying with the competition eligibility rules.’
He added: ‘They are women in their passports and it’s stated that this is the case, that they are female.’
Prior to 2021, the IOC set thresholds for the maximum amount of testosterone — the ‘male’ sex hormone — competitors in women’s events could have. These were picked up in blood tests, similar to ones for doping.
Rules on testosterone limits had been previosuly brought into sharp focus by the very public and famous case of Caster Semenya.
Nicola Adams, who won gold at London 2012 and Rio 2016, posted her thoughts on X
Harry Potter author JK Rowling has been vocal in condemning the Olympic boxing rules
Semenya has a condition which means her body naturally produces higher levels of testosterone than normal for women.
She became unable to compete at Tokyo in 2020 after World Athletics brought in new rules independently of the IOC at the time.
IOC’s own testosterone monitoring policies were halted three years ago and replaced with a policy of ‘fairness, inclusion and non-discrimination on the basis of gender identify and sex variation’.
