Alegeria’s Imane Khelif, who was disqualified from the 2023 world championships for failing an unspecified gender eligibility test, won her first Olympic boxing bout on Thursday after Italian opponent Angela Carini withdrew from the battle after just 46 seconds of action.
Khelif’s participation at the Paris Olympics has caused huge uproar, with the Russian-led International Boxing Association (IBA) slamming the International Olympic Committee (IOC) for allowing the Alegerian boxer to compete in the contest. In its statement, the IBA criticised the IOC for “inconsistent application of eligibility criteria,” reaffirming that Khelif and Taiwan’s Lin Yu-ting were found to “have competitive advantages over other female competitors” based on the evaluation of tests they underwent.
On Thursday, the crowd at the North Paris Arena applauded when the 25-year-old stepped into the ring, but they weren’t sure why the fight ended so abruptly.
Carini abandoned the bout just after she exchanged a few punches with Khelif. Such incidents are incredibly uncommon in Olympic boxing. It appeared that the Italian boxer’s headgear fell loose at least once before she quit. Carini, who didn’t shake hands with Khelif, was seen crying in the ring on her knees after the decision was announced.
What Carini has to say about her defeat and Khelif?
In an interview after her exit, Carini stated with her teary-eyes that she had to give up due to immense pain in her nose. Carini, who had a bloodstain on her trunks, insisted that she wasn’t declining to fight Khelif or making a political statement.
“I felt a severe pain in my nose, and with the maturity of a boxer, I said ‘enough,’ because I didn’t want to, I didn’t want to, I couldn’t finish the match,” the Italian athlete stated.
After the first hits, Carini, who was still crying, claimed she had to give up because her nose was hurting so badly. Carini, who had a bloodstain on her trunks, insisted that she wasn’t refusing to fight Khelif or making a political statement.
“A sharp pain shot through my nose, and like a seasoned boxer, I said, ‘Enough,’ because I couldn’t finish the match and I didn’t want to,” Carini said.
Stressing that she has no authority to determine Khelif’s eligibility to compete in the Olympics, Carini said she had no issues fighting her, adding that “I just did my job as a boxer.”
She admitted that she is “heartbroken”, but added, “My father taught me to be a warrior. I have always stepped into the ring with honor and I have always (served) my country with loyalty. And this time I couldn’t do it because I couldn’t fight anymore, and so I ended the match.”
Ahead of the match, Italian PM Giorgia Meloni also raised her concern that Carini had to box Khelif, reminding that she has been opposing the decision to allow athletes with “genetically male” characteristics to compete in women’s category since 2021.
Ahead of her visit to Italy athletes in the Olympic Village on Thursday, she highlighted the need of “even playing field”, adding that “we are actually discriminating” against the rights of women.
Know about Imane Khelif’s fail gender eligibility test
Khelif is a renowned boxer who earned a silver medal at the 2022 world championship of the IBA. The same organisation banned her from last year’s women’s world boxing championship in New Delhi, India, due to alleged excessive testosterone levels.
She was surprisingly banned a few hours ahead of her scheduled gold medal battle against Yang Liu of China. However, Lin’s bronze medal was also taken away after she also failed to meet IBA’s eligibility test, which prevents athletes with XY chromosomes from competing in the women’s category.
The disqualification, in Khelif’s opinion, was a plot to stop an Algerian boxer from winning. According to the IOC, Khelif was disqualified because of high testosterone levels.
Meanwhile, in a statement on Wednesday, the Algerian Olympic Committee condemned the outrage against their athlete and blamed certain foreign media outlets for spreading “lies” and “unethical targeting and maligning” of Khelif.
The IOC revoked the IBA’s authority to oversee international amateur boxing in June 2023, citing the sports organisation’s purported inability to address certain financial, moral, and administrative concerns.
As a result, the IOC assumed control of amateur boxing, oversaw the sport in Tokyo last year, and is currently overseeing the sport during the Olympics in Paris.
Is Imane Khelif biologically male?
Lin Yu-ting and Khelif were allowed to compete this year because IOC’s regulations allow the admission of athletes with gender diversity and DSDs (differences of sexual development).
The word DSD denotes a group of uncommon conditions connected to a person’s estrogens, genes, and reproductive organs. Some people with DSD are brought up in a feminine manner. Moreover, they have male-like blood testosterone levels, their bodies’ capacity to use testosterone and XY chromosomes, which are typically present in individuals who are cisgender male (a person declared as male by birth).
As opposed to this, a cisgender female (i.e., assigned female at birth) has XX chromosomes and substantially lower testosterone levels When compared to cisgender women, cisgender men goes through male puberty and typically have an advantage when it comes to muscle mass, faster twitch muscle, and skeletal structure.
Due to these variations, the typical person has a significant advantage over an ordinary female boxer during athletic performance matches or competitions in other combat sports.
According to NBC, Khelif and Lin have not made their identities public as intersex or transgender.
However, some athletes like Khelif and Barbra Banda of Zambia reportedly deal with DSD.
Banda, the prominent women’s football player, participated in the Olympics in Paris and most recently gave an outstanding performance against Australia.
Women boxing champions from the past and present, like Claressa Shields and Ebanie Bridges have denounced the IOC’s decision.
Netizens reacts to the controversy
Meanwhile, social media users reacted to the controversy, with many condemning the Olympics, saying, “This will not end well for the people in power who allowed this to happen.”
Meanwhile, hashtag “I Stand With Angela Carini” started trending on X.
“The Olympics just tried to make a woman fight a man…Angela Carini vs Imane Khalif…..you have all lost your goddamn minds to allow a man to fight a woman,” one X user commented.
