46-second boxing bout sparks Olympic gender debate
A boxing match ended after one participant called if off in the first round has rocked the Paris Games amid debate about gender eligibility rules.
Angela Carini sensationally abandoned her Olympic 66kg boxing bout against Algerian Imane Khelif on Thursday in the first round, the Italian saying post-fight that she needed to “safeguard her life”.
Khelif and Taiwan’s Lin Yu‑ting of Taiwan were disqualified from last year’s International Boxing Association-run world championships after they failed gender eligibility tests and were deemed to have a competitive advantage.
Both Lin and Kheli were born female, and under IOC criteria are free to compete in the women’s competition at Paris.
That test remains unspecified, but the IBA did clarify that neither underwent testosterone examinations.
The International Olympic Committee have taken over from the IBA as boxing’s sanctioning body – ironically due to integrity concerns – and, under different criteria, have allowed both to compete.
Carini’s headgear became dislodged twice after punches before she quit and she refused to shake Khelif’s hand after the decision was announced.
You might like
She cried in the ring before leaving.
“She felt pain in the nose and said to me, ‘I don’t want to fight more’,” her Italian coach Emanuele Renzini told reporters in broken English.
“People say, ‘Don’t go, it’s dangerous, she’s a man’. Maybe it’s this (why she quit).
“It’s not my decision, It’s a difficult decision. I don’t want to be the CEO at the moment.”
Renzini and Italy’s boxing team leader Alberto Tappa were seen in discussion with IOC officials in the hours after Carini’s fight.
“We hope for the future that it will be more clear, for all the teams,” Tappa said of a conversation that stretched beyond the eligibility rules.
Stay informed, daily
“We are not lucky (to draw Khelif), in the first bout, (but) you have to fight.
“The pressure … a lot of people from Italy said not to fight, to protest.”
Khelif dodged media as she briskly exited the arena, while Carini fought through tears to explain it was the injury, and not a protest, that forced her sudden abandonment.
“I felt a strong pain in my nose and … could no longer finish the match,” she said.
“I am heartbroken because I am a fighter, my father taught me to be a warrior.
“I felt all the controversy that there has been … that was not something that stopped me or blocked me mentally.”
Australia’s Marissa Williamson’s comprehensive loss meant she avoided a next-up encounter with the Algerian, who will instead meet historic Hungarian Anna Luca Hamori in a Saturday quarter-final that’s captured the world’s attention.
“I’m not scared,” Hamori said ahead of their first meeting, before adding that she didn’t understand why Carini had thrown in the towel.
“I don’t care about the story … if she or he is a man it’ll be a bigger victory for me if I will win. So let’s do it.
“It’s going to be a great fight and I hope I will win. I can’t wait.”
The Algerian Olympic Committee issued a statement on Wednesday condemning what they termed “lies” and “unethical targeting and maligning of our esteemed athlete, Imane Khelif, with baseless propaganda from certain foreign media outlets.”
– AAP
