The match was controversial before it even started. When Italy’s Angela Carini threw in the towel and broke down in tears after being punched just twice, an even bigger backlash became inevitable.
Her opponent, Algerian Imane Khelif, has previously been banned from competing against women because her body produces high levels of testosterone.
After the fight, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni spoke out on the case, questioning the International Olympic Committee decision to allow the Algerian athlete to compete among women.
“From my point of view, this was not an equal competition,” Meloni told reporters Thursday. “I think that athletes who have male genetic characteristics should not participate in women’s competitions. Not because we want to discriminate against anyone, but to protect the rights of female athletes to compete on equal terms.”
Carini pulled out after Khelif’s second punch due to severe pain in her nose. After the speaker announced Khelif’s victory, Carini refused to shake hands with her rival. In her grief, she fell to the ground on stage and began to cry. Pictures of her began to circulate on social media.
“We are all with you,” the Italian national team wrote on X. Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini called it a “truly un-Olympic scene.”
“Shame on the bureaucrats who allowed a match that was obviously not on equal terms,”
Author J.K. Rowling, a regular contributor to gender culture wars, also weighed in, writing to the organizing team: “You’re a disgrace, your ‘safeguarding’ is a joke and #Paris24 will be forever tarnished by the brutal injustice done to Carini.”
Khelif was previously disqualified from the International Boxing Association World Championships for failing a testosterone level test. But the International Olympic Committee cleared her to compete in women’s boxing at the Paris Olympics.
There is no suggestion Khelif has done anything wrong. She is not known to have cheated by doping with testosterone, which is a naturally occurring hormone which both men and women produce. Boxers, need it be said, are supposed to punch each other very hard.
Nor is Khelif transgender. Unusually, she is reported to have XY sex chromosomes — women usually have XX sex chromosomes — but Khelif was born female.
On Saturday, Khelif will return to the ring in the quarterfinals of the light welterweight division. Her opponent has not been announced yet.
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