A boxer at the centre of an Olympics gender firestorm won against an Italian woman in a controversial bout.
The fight between Italy’s Angela Carini and her Algerian opponent, Imane Khelif, lasted just 46 seconds when Carini threw down her helmet and shouted, “This is unjust!” before the match in the 66kg division was called off.
The Italian refused to shake hands with her opponent before tearing her hand away from the ref’s as Khelif’s was raised and named winner.
“I’m used to suffering,” Carini tearfully told reporters after the fight, according to the Daily Mail.
“I’ve never taken a punch like that, it’s impossible to continue,” she said, but added: “I’m nobody to say it’s illegal.”
Carini explained: “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.”
Carini’s coach, Emanuel Renzini, told reporters that he didn’t know if the boxer’s nose was broken and that those concerned for her safety advised her not to get into the ring with Khelif.
“Many people in Italy tried to call and tell her, ‘Don’t go please. It’s a man, it’s dangerous for you,’” Renzini recalled.
The International Olympic Committee defended their decision to let Khelif and Taiwan’s Lin Yu-ting into the competition despite both being disqualified from the world championships by the International Boxing Association for failing gender eligibility tests.
The president of the IBA alleged that the boxers’ chromosome tests came back as XY, which typically is a male trait, while Khelif also was found to have a high level of testosterone, according to Reuters.
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Khelif and Lin both have only competed as women and there is no indication that either identifies as transgender, Dan Bilicki previously reported.
“All athletes participating in the boxing tournament of the Olympic Games Paris 2024 comply with the competition’s eligibility and entry regulations, as well as all applicable medical regulations,” the IOC said in a statement prior to the Paris Games.
The IOC has appointed officials to run boxing at two straight Summer Games and noted earlier this week that the tournament rules for Paris are “descended from” those that were in place eight years ago at the Rio de Janeiro Games.
Boxing officials selected to run Paris qualifying and finals tournaments tried “to restrict amendments to minimize the impact on athletes’ preparation and guaranteeing consistency between Olympic Games,” the IOC said.
Naturally, that fired up many on social media, including activists of women’s sports who say Khelif should never been allowed in the ring.
Tennis legend Martina Navratilova called it “deplorable” in one post on X, adding in a second post, “This is all on IOC and those in power who make the rules.”
She added: “It’s a travesty and makes a mockery of all Olympic sports.”
“After 46 seconds and a few hits to the face by a male, Carini forfeited the fight,” former U.S. collegiate swimmer-turned-activist Riley Gaines wrote on X.
“Call me crazy, but it’s almost as if women don’t want to be punched in the face by a male as the world watches and applauds. This is glorified male violence against women.”
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni told the Telegraph that she didn’t think it was “an even contest.”
“I have been trying to explain for years that, when taken to the extreme, some theses risk impacting women’s rights.”
She made clear that it wasn’t about discrimination but rather, “to protect the right of female athletes to be able to compete on equal terms.”
J.K. Rowling, who has long spoken out about gender issues, called out the IOC, writing, “A young female boxer has just had everything she’s worked and trained for snatched away because you allowed a male to get in the ring with her.”
She added: “You’re a disgrace, your ‘safeguarding’ is a joke and #Paris24 will be forever tarnished by the brutal injustice done to Carini.”