The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has come under fire from high-profile women’s rights campaigners after a boxing match was abandoned amid safety fears.
Italy’s Angela Carini felt unable to complete her Paris 2024 bout with Algeria’s Imane Khelif, who was disqualified from last year’s Women’s World Championships because of elevated levels of testosterone.
“It could have been the match of a lifetime, but I had to preserve my life as well in that moment,” an emotional Carini told journalists after the 66kg preliminary round match.
The incident has gone wildly viral on social media, where the likes of J.K. Rowling and Elon Musk are decrying Olympic organizers. They accused Khelif of being male, even though this charge has been described as “baseless” by the Algeria Olympic Committee.
On Twitter/X, Rowling said: “Could any picture sum up our new men’s rights movement better? The smirk of a male who’s knows he’s protected by a misogynist sporting establishment enjoying the distress of a woman he’s just punched in the head, and whose life’s ambition he’s just shattered.”
Could any picture sum up our new men’s rights movement better? The smirk of a male who’s knows he’s protected by a misogynist sporting establishment enjoying the distress of a woman he’s just punched in the head, and whose life’s ambition he’s just shattered. #Paris2024 pic.twitter.com/Q5SbKiksXQ
— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) August 1, 2024
Musk endorsed a post from Riley Gaines. The American swimmer wrote that “men don’t belong in women’s sports,” with the Twitter/X boss replying: “Absolutely.”
More moderate voices included Judy Murray, the mother of Team GB tennis player Andy Murray. “This should never have been allowed to happen. Bring back the swab test. Sport has to be fair and safe for biological women,” Judy wrote.
On Wednesday, the IOC defended its decision to allow Khelif to compete. “Obviously I am not going to comment on individuals,” said spokesperson Mark Adams. “That’s really invidious and unfair. But I would just say that everyone competing in the women’s category is complying with the competition eligibility rules. They are women in their passports and it is stated that is the case.”
He added that “this is not a transgender issue” and that the women involved had been competing in women’s competitions for “many years.”
Following the bout, Carini wished her opponent well. “I wish her to carry on until the end and that she can be happy. I am someone who doesn’t judge anyone. I am not here to give judgements,” she said.
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