Olympic Boxing: Algerian Wins Fight After Gender Test Issue

VILLEPINTE, FRANCE –

Algeria’s Imane Khelif won her first Olympic boxing match on Thursday when her opponent Angela Carini of Italy gave up after just 46 seconds.

Khelif was disqualified from the 2023 World Championships after failing an undisclosed gender test. Her participation in the Paris Olympics has been a divisive issue.

Carini and Khelif exchanged only a few punches before Carini walked away and stopped the match — a highly unusual occurrence in Olympic boxing. Carini’s headgear apparently came loose at least once before she stopped. Carini did not shake Khelif’s hand after the decision was announced, but wept on her knees in the ring.

Afterwards, a still-tearful Carini said she had quit because of severe pain in her nose after the opening punches. Carini, who had a blood stain on her swimsuit, said she was not making a political statement and was not refusing to fight Khelif.

“I felt a strong pain in my nose and with the maturity of a boxer I said ‘enough’, because I didn’t want to, I didn’t want to, I couldn’t finish the match,” said Carini.

Carini went on to say that she is not qualified to decide whether Khelif will compete, but that she had no problem fighting her.

“I’m not here to judge or pass judgment,” Carini said. “If an athlete is like that, and in that sense it’s not good or it’s good, then it’s not for me to decide. I just did my job as a boxer. I stepped into the ring and fought. I did it with my head held high and with a broken heart because I didn’t finish the last kilometer.”

Khelif is an experienced amateur who won a silver medal at the 2022 International Boxing Association world championships. The same governing body disqualified her from last year’s championships shortly before her gold medal bout due to what she claimed were elevated testosterone levels.

The 25-year-old entered the ring at the North Paris Arena to loud cheers, but the crowd was confused by the sudden end of the bout. Khelif, who fights again on Saturday, did not speak to reporters.

“I’m sad because I’m a fighter,” Carini said. “My father taught me to be a warrior. I’ve always stepped into the ring with honor and I’ve always served my country loyally. And this time I couldn’t do that because I couldn’t fight anymore, so I ended the match.”

Khelif and Taiwan’s Lin Yu-ting have suddenly come under heavy fire for their presence in Paris after years of amateur competition. Lin won IBA world championships in 2018 and 2022, but the governing body stripped her of a bronze medal last year after claiming she failed to meet unspecified entry requirements in a biochemical test.

Lin begins her competition in Paris on Friday, where she will face Sitora Turdibekova of Uzbekistan in her opening bout after receiving a bye in the first round.

The Algerian Olympic Committee issued a statement on Wednesday condemning the “lies” and “unethical targeting and defamation of our esteemed athlete, Imane Khelif, with unfounded propaganda by certain foreign media.”

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, who visited Italian athletes at the Olympic Village on Thursday, criticized the fact that Carini was pitted against Khelif, saying she had opposed allowing athletes with “genetically male” characteristics to compete against women since 2021.

“We have to be careful that in trying not to discriminate, we are actually discriminating” against women’s rights, Meloni said.

She said it is necessary to guarantee the rights of athletes so that they can compete on a level playing field.

“In these kinds of things it’s your dedication, your head and your character, but it’s also important that you have equal weapons,” Meloni said.

Khelif and Lin are two-time Olympians who competed in the Tokyo Games without controversy. Lin has been an elite amateur boxer for ten years and Khelif for six. They were selected to join the IOC task force in Paris, which has organized the last two Olympic boxing tournaments.

The IOC defended their right to compete on Tuesday. Olympic boxing achieved gender parity for the first time this year, with 124 men and 124 women competing in Paris.

“Everyone who competes in the women’s category complies with the rules for participation in the competition,” IOC spokesman Mark Adams said. “They are women in their passports and that is what it says, that they are women.”

Lin is the top seed in the 57-kilogram class, although Olympic placings are often not indicative of a division’s top medal contenders.

Several sports have updated their gender rules in the past three years, including World Aquatics, World Athletics and the International Cycling Union. The track governing body also tightened its rules for athletes with differences in sex development last year.

The IOC said it based its decisions on boxing participation on the gender rules that were in place at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.

The IOC is responsible for boxing in Paris, as the IBA was banned from the last two Olympic Games due to years of governance problems, a lack of financial transparency and many alleged cases of corruption among the judging and refereeing staff.

The IOC has revoked the Olympic status of the IBA, which is headed by Russian President Umar Kremlev, who brought in Russian state-owned Gazprom as the main sponsor and moved much of the IBA’s operations to Russia.

The IBA has since lost more than three dozen members. They have formed a new group called World Boxing. The group hopes to be recognized by the IOC as the sport’s governing body ahead of the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles.

The IBA has used the boxers’ presence in Paris to aggressively criticize the IOC. After the Court of Arbitration for Sport upheld the IOC’s ban earlier this year, the IBA appealed to the Swiss Federal Tribunal.

The banned body issued a statement on Wednesday claiming that both boxers had not undergone a “testosterone test” last year but were “subject to a separate and recognised test” for their disqualification. The IBA said the “details of the test remain confidential” and declined to elaborate.

Female boxers have been repeatedly questioned about Khelif and Lin this week, with many expressing concern, while others have called for more attention to an obviously complicated issue.

“I don’t agree that it should be allowed, especially in combat sports, because it can be incredibly dangerous,” said Australian middleweight Caitlin Parker. “But right now my focus is on getting through every fight. It’s not like I haven’t sparred with guys before, but it can be dangerous for combat sports and it should be looked at seriously. It’s good that these things are coming out and that it’s being brought to attention to be looked at further.

“Biologically and genetically they will have more advantages. Combat sports can be dangerous. Fairness is what it’s all about. We all want fairness in sports.”

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Nicole Winfield, an Associated Press editor in Rome, contributed to this report.