Olympics: Uproar as female boxer abandons bout against opponent with gender test issue
Angela Carini, Italy’s female boxer, walked out of her opening fight at the 2024 Paris Olympics against Imane Khelif of Algeria after just 46 seconds.
The duo faced each other in the second round of the women’s welterweight category at the North Paris Arena on Thursday.
Khelif was disqualified from the 2023 world championships after she failed a testosterone and gender eligibility test.
However, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) cleared the Algerian to participate in the Paris Games.
Her presence at the 2024 Olympics has been polarising, and the situation kicked into high gear when she entered the ring against Carini.
The fighters exchanged only a few punches before Carini walked away from the ring and abandoned the bout.
Some of Khelif’s punches had dislodged Carini’s headgear and bloodied her before the Italian quit the match. The Algerian was later announced as the winner of the fight
Speaking after conceding defeat, a tearful Carini was seen saying, “this can’t be right”.
The Italian said she had never felt punches as powerful as the ones she faced from Khelif’s.
“I wasn’t able to finish the match. I felt a strong pain in my nose, and I said [to myself] for the experience that I have and the maturity that I have as a woman, 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,” the Italian said.
“I am not here to judge or pass judgment. If an athlete is this way, and in that sense, it’s not right, or it is right, it’s not up to me to decide. I just did my job as a boxer. I got into the ring and fought. I did it with my head held high and with a broken heart for not having finished the last kilometre.
“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 to everything, and I put an end to this match because I wasn’t able to [continue].”
Many social media users have reacted to the incident. Some users called on the IOC to disqualify Khelif, while others defended the Algerian’s right to compete at the Olympics.
