Algeria's Imane Khelif advanced to the quarter-finals in women's boxing 66kg weight category after her Italian opponent Angela Carini abandoned the game in just 46 seconds. Khelif landed a couple of powerful blows on Carini before the Italian athlete took a breather. She could only continue for 10 more seconds before calling it off. As the referee raised both their hands to announce the winner, distraught Carini was quick to leave his hand and then went down on her haunches to cry profusely.
Carini even ignored Khelif's gesture of shaking hands as she was heartbroken and in tears. The incident has sparked a major controversy in the Olympics and for women's sports in general as Khelif, a woman with higher testosterone levels failed the gender test last year. Khelif has been in the limelight since last year after she was disqualified from the 2023 World Championships after failing to comply with rules of the International Boxing Association (IBA) that prevent athletes with XY chromosomes from participating in women's competitions.
However, Khelif was allowed to compete at the Paris Olympics by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) with the Olympic body not recognising IBA over governance and finance issues. IOC's decision though put an end to Carini's Olympic dream as she was inconsolable.
"I have always honoured my country with loyalty," Carini was quoted as saying by Reuters. "This time I didn't succeed because I couldn't fight anymore. I put an end to the match because after the second blow, after years of experience in the ring and a life of fighting, I felt a strong pain in my nose.
"You all saw my nose that started bleeding. I didn’t lose tonight, I just surrendered with maturity. I am a mature woman, the ring is my life. I’ve always been very instinctive, but when I feel something is not going well, it’s not surrender but having the maturity to stop," Carini said after the bout.
The incident has created a huge uproar not just on social media but in the whole sporting world as it has raised questions over IOC's rules and regulations over the participation of certain athletes. Some sports allow athletes with testosterone levels to an extent to participate in women's sports while others have put a blanket ban on them, especially those who have been through male puberty.
"What I would say is that this involves real people and we are talking about real people's lives here," IOC spokesperson Mark Adams said on Thursday. "They have competed and they continue to compete in the women's competition. They have lost and they have won against other women over the years."
Italy's Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni commented on the issue saying that the battle wasn't between the equals.
"I think that athletes who have male genetic characteristics should not be admitted to women's competitions," Meloni said. "And not because you want to discriminate against someone, but to protect the right of female athletes to be able to compete on equal terms," Meloni was quoted as saying by Italian news agency ANSA.
"I was emotional yesterday when she wrote 'I will fight' because the dedication, the head, the character, surely also play a role in these things."
(With Reuters inputs)
