Olympic boxer Imane Khelif of Algeria failed gender eligibility tests at the 2023 World Championships but was allowed to compete in the 2024 Paris Olympics. Her first match of the Olympics against Angela Carini of Italy certainly caused some controversy.
Carini withdrew from the match just 46 seconds into the fight after taking two punches from Khelif. She was in tears as she retreated into her corner and yelled “This is unjust.”
After the match, Carini said she had “never taken a punch like that” and that it was “impossible to continue.”
“I’m used to suffering,” Carini said after the match according to Fox News “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 stronkhelif-angela-carini-boxing-genderg 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.”
Khelif was removed from the 2023 World Championships by the International Boxing Association after she was found to have tested positive for having high levels of testosterone.
“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,” IBA president Kremlev said at the time.
However, Khelif is reportedly not transgender. Rosario Coco, the president of Gaynet Communications in Italy, told Italy’s ANSA that Khelif is intersex, having both male and female chromosomes.
“In contrast to the reports that have been circulating, the Algerian athlete Imane Khelif is not a trans woman,” Coco told the news agency. “From the information we have about her, she is an intersex person, who has always socialized as a woman and has a sporting history in women’s competitions.”
It’s also worth noting that Khelif is from Algeria, a predominantly Muslim country where it is illegal for a person to be transgender and to transition.
But clearly, Carini was not happy to compete against her.
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