Forty-six seconds. That was the sum total of time a female Italian boxer lasted in the ring at the Paris Olympics before she retired from a bout against an Algerian fighter caught in an eligibility furore.
Twenty-five-year-old Imane Khelif was cleared to compete at the 2024 Olympics, even after being disqualified from the International Boxing Association (IBA) 2023 World Boxing Championships for failing gender-eligibility tests, according to Fox News. The International Olympic Committee, which uses different criteria to determine eligibility, ruled Khelif eligible to compete.
“Everyone competing in the women’s category is complying with the competition eligibility rules,” IOC spokesperson Mark Adams said. “They are women in their passports and it’s stated that this is the case, that they are female.”
The contest Thursday between the mismatched pugilists shone fresh light on the controversy about athletes with abnormally high testosterone levels or other male characteristics being allowed to enter women’s sporting categories.
Angela Carini was seen going to her corner twice during the women’s category 66kg clash, once to get her headgear tightened after taking a punch to the face and the other to abandon the bout after 46 seconds.
Speaking after the match, the heartbroken Italian told Italy’s ASNA: “I’m used to suffering. I’ve never taken a punch like that, it’s impossible to continue. I’m nobody to say it’s illegal.
“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.”
The referee announced Algerian Khelif as the winner, but Carini refused to acknowledge her opponent.
She fell to her knees in tears and despair as she came to terms with the end of her Olympic dream at the hands of an opponent cleared to fight by the International Olympic Committee (IOC).
Khelif will move on to the next round of the women’s 66-kilogram division. However, the win comes amid a week of controversy which will closely follow that progress.
Fox News reports the Algerian Olympian was disqualified from the 2023 World Boxing Championships after the International Boxing Association determined Khelif failed gender tests.
According to Reuters, Khalif was found to have elevated levels of testosterone.
IBA President Umar Kremlev explained the decision at the time, according to Russia’s Tass News Agency as cited by Fox.
“Based on DNA tests, we identified a number of athletes who tried to trick their colleagues into posing as women. According to the results of the tests, it was proved that they have XY chromosomes. Such athletes were excluded from competition,” Kremlev said.
Algeria’s Imane Khalif arrives for the women’s 66kg preliminaries round of 16 boxing match against Italy’s Angela Carini during the Paris 2024 Olympic Games at the North Paris Arena, in Villepinte on August 1, 2024. ( MOHD RASFAN/AFP via Getty Images)
Imane Khalif of Team Algeria punches Angela Carini of Team Italy during the Women’s. 66kg preliminary round match on day six of the Olympic Games Paris 2024 at North Paris Arena on August 01, 2024 in Paris, France. (Richard Pelham/Getty Images)
The IOC cleared Khelif to compete and the Algerian Olympic Committee (COA) pushed back on criticism ahead of Thursday’s bout.
“COA strongly condemns the unethical targeting and maligning of our esteemed athlete […] with baseless propaganda from certain foreign media outlets,” the organization said, via Reuters.
“Such attacks on her personality and dignity are deeply unfair, especially as she prepares for the pinnacle of her career at the Olympics. The COA has taken all necessary measures to protect our champion.”
Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni, who was visiting Italy’s athletes in the Olympic Village on Thursday, voiced criticism that Carini had to box Khelif.
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“We have to pay attention, in an attempt to not discriminate, that we’re actually discriminating” against women’s rights, Meloni said.
She added that it was strange “that there can be a suspicion, and far more than a suspicion, of an unfair and potentially dangerous contest for one of the contenders at the Olympics, an event that symbolises sporting fairness”.