It was already the subject of plenty of debate and now, after just 45 seconds and a single punch, the boxing world’s divide is only set to grow even wider.
It comes after Imane Khelif, who along with Taiwan’s Lin Yu-ting was disqualified from the world championships last year, won her Round of 16 bout in stunning fashion.
The International Olympic Committee generated debate with its decision to allow the two boxers who failed testosterone and gender eligibility tests at the 2023 world championships to compete in Paris.
Khelif, a woman, won her fight on Thursday in swift fashion, landing a right hand early and went to capitalise with a flurry of punches, only for Italy’s Angela Carini to raise her hand to have her headgear checked.
She then talked to her coaches and shortly after returned to the centre of ring, where again Khelif landed a big right hand.
Then, in a shocking twist, Carini raised her glove once more and this time to withdraw from the fight before falling to the floor in tears.
Carini said post-fight: “I have never been hit so hard in my life. It’s up to the IOC to judge.”
Meanwhile Carini’s coach said: “She felt pain in the nose and said to me I don’t want to fight anymore.
“People said don’t go, it’s dangerous, she’s a man (sp).
“Maybe it’s this.”
Australia’s Caitlin Parker, who is in the 75kg weight class and will not face Khelif or Lin, made her stance about the pair clear this week.
“I don’t agree with that being allowed, especially in combat sports as it can be incredibly dangerous,” she said.
Elsewhere, Algeria’s Olympic Committee condemned “unethical attacks” on Khelif ahead of her opening bout Khelif.
Algeria’s Olympic Committee (COA) said it “denounces in the strongest terms the malicious and unethical attacks directed against our distinguished athlete, Imane Khelif, by certain foreign media” in a statement released hours before her bout against Carini.
The COA hit out at “lies” that it said were “completely unfair”. “We are all with you, Imane,” it added. “The whole nation supports you.”
Khelif and Lin were disqualified from the 2023 world championships in New Delhi, which was run by the International Boxing Association (IBA).
The IOC website for accredited media in Paris said that the 25-year-old Khelif was disqualified after “elevated levels of testosterone failed to meet the eligibility criteria”.
Lin was stripped of her bronze medal after undergoing “biochemical” tests mandated by the IBA.
However, the International Olympic Committee is running the boxing in the French capital because of governance, financial and ethical issues at the IBA.
IOC spokesman Mark Adams told reporters this week: “Everyone competing in the women’s category… is complying with competition eligibility rules.
“They are women in their passports and it’s stated in there that they are female.”
The level of testosterone permitted in a woman’s body remains a point of contention in the sporting world.
Source Agencies
