The boxing match between Italian boxer Angela Carini and Algeria’s Imane Khelif at the Paris Olympics has apmlified a significant controversy, raising questions about gender eligibility in sports. The bout lasted just 46 seconds, as Carini chose to abandon the fight against Khelif, who had previously failed a gender eligibility test in 2023.
Carini, representing Italy in the women’s 66 kg boxing category, withdrew from the match, granting Khelif an unexpected victory in the opening round. Khelif’s participation in the world championships had been restricted due to failures in testosterone and gender eligibility tests. The swift conclusion of the fight came as a surprise to spectators, given the rarity of such occurrences in Olympic boxing.
According to ESPN, Carini was visibly emotional after the match and declined to shake hands with Khelif. This incident has triggered a wave of reactions across the sports community and social media platforms. Fans, as well as influential figures in the sports world, have engaged in passionate debates, primarily focusing on Khelif’s previous disqualification from the 2023 World Championships.
The unexpected outcome has drawn attention to the ongoing discussions surrounding gender verification in sports and the challenges faced by athletes in ensuring fair competition. The incident involving Carini and Khelif has further intensified the conversation, prompting calls for stricter regulations and oversight in order to maintain the integrity of sporting events.
In the post-match interview, Khelif said as quoted by ESPN that she felt severe pain in her nose during the fight. She also said that she was not going to judge if Khelif should be allowed to compete at the Olympics.
“I felt a severe pain in my nose, and with the maturity of a boxer, I said ‘enough,’ because I didn’t want to, I did not want to, I could not finish the match,” Carini said.
“I am not here to judge or pass judgment. If an athlete is this way, and in that sense, it is not right or it is right, it is 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,” she added.
Just before her gold medal bout in the International Boxing Association (IBA) Women’s Championships held in New Delhi last year, Khelif was disqualified as she had failed to meet IBA’s eligibility criteria. She was not allowed to compete due to elevated testosterone levels, as per ESPN.
But she was allowed to compete in the Paris Olympics by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) task force, which is running past two Olympic boxing events as IBA has been banned from the past two years in Olympics due to governance issues, lack of financial transparency and instances of corruption in judging and refereeing.
The IOC had defended the rights of Khelif and Lin Yu-ting, another boxer in scrutiny due to failing an unspecified eligibility requirement in a biochemical test, to compete in the Olympics. Lin from Chinese Taipei will lock horns with Uzbekistan’s Sitora Turdibekova in the 57kg event on Friday.
Notably, for the first time ever, with 124 men and women competing, Olympics boxing reached gender parity.
“Everyone competing in the women’s category is complying with the competition eligibility rules,” IOC spokesperson Mark Adams said as quoted by ESPN.
“They are women in their passports, and it is stated that this is the case that they are female,” he added.
Several sports bodies have updated their gender rules over the years, including the World Aquatics, World Athletics and International Cycling Union. However, the IOC said that they made eligibility decisions on boxers based on gender-related rules applicable at the 2016 Rio Olympics. These bodies ban athletes who went through male puberty from women’s events.
“What I would say is that this involves real people and we are talking about real people’s lives here,” Adams said. “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,” he added. (With Inputs from ANI)
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