Italian boxer Angela Carini came out of the boxing ring just 46 seconds and abandoned her women's 66kg bout against Algerian Imane Khelif on Thursday at the Paris Olympic Games 2024. (Full Olympics Coverage | More Sports News)
Carini's unprecedented move sparked massive debate online with many blaming the International Olympic Committee (IOC) for allowing athletes who had previously failed testosterone and gender eligibility tests.
Khelif, 25, gained unwanted attention when she was disqualified shortly before the gold medal match at the 2023 World Championships for not meeting the International Boxing Association's (IBA) eligibility rules. The world boxing body doesn't allow athletes with XY chromosomes to participate in women's events.
Nevertheless, she was allowed to compete in Paris, which the IOC organizes.
Carini and Khelif only exchanged a few punches before Carini quit the bout, which is highly unusual in Olympic boxing. Carini's headgear came loose twice before she gave up.
Who Is Imane Khelif?
Khelif is an amateur boxer who won a silver medal at the International Boxing Association's 2022 World Championships. However, she was disqualified from last year's championships by the same governing body just before her gold-medal match due to what they claimed were elevated levels of testosterone.
Khelif is one of two boxers allowed to compete in the Olympics despite being disqualified from the women’s world championships last year for not meeting the testosterone and gender eligibility criteria. Khelif and Lin Yu-ting of Taiwan have come under intense scrutiny for their participation in Paris, following years of competing as amateurs.
Carini, 25, also refused to shake hands with Khelif and cried in the ring before leaving. She later explained that the reason for not continuing the fight was that she was feeling huge pain in her nose.
"For me, it’s not a defeat. When you climb those ropes, you’re already a warrior, you’re already a winner. Regardless of everything, it’s OK, fine like this," the Guardian reported the Italian as saying.
"I didn’t lose tonight … I only did my job as a fighter. I got in the ring and I fought. I didn’t make it. I’m coming out with my head held high and with a broken heart.
“I’m a mature woman. The ring is my life. I’ve always been very instinctive. And when I feel that something isn’t right, it’s not giving up. It’s having the maturity to stop. It’s having the maturity to say: ‘OK, that’s enough’.”
The Algerian Olympic Committee had issued a statement on Wednesday condemning what it termed “lies” and “unethical targeting and maligning of our esteemed athlete, Imane Khelif, with baseless propaganda from certain foreign media outlets.”
Famous author and women's rights activist JK Rowling took to social media to express her views on the matter.
Former United Kingdom Prime Minister Liz Truss and current Italy Prime Minister Georgia Meloni also criticised the incident through their respective social media platforms.
Carini has been knocked out of the event but Imane Khelif will play her quarterfinal match on Saturday, 3 August.
