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By Shannon Power
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An Italian boxer burst into tears after quickly abandoning a fight at the Paris 2024 Olympics against an opponent who previously failed a gender eligibility test administered by a now-unrecognized boxing association.
Angela Carini stopped her bout against Algerian Imane Khelif after just 46 seconds. The 25-year-old said after the fight that she had never been hit so hard in her life.
The incident has sparked controversy as Carini fell to her knees in the middle of the ring and said: "This isn't fair," according to the BBC. Khelif is one of two female boxers who had previously been banned for failing gender eligibility and testosterone tests. The other was Lin Yu‑ting of Chinese Taipei (Taiwan), who is due to fight Uzbekistan's Sitora Turdibekova on Friday.
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The pair were barred from competing in the 2023 women's World Championships by the International Amateur Boxing association (IBA). Its president, Umar Kremlev, said at the time that their DNA tests had "proved they had XY chromosomes (the male chromosomes) and were thus excluded," per The Guardian.
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The International Olympic Committee withdrew the IBA's recognition in 2023 following its suspension in 2019, and that decision has since been confirmed by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).
They are allowed to compete in the Olympics because the two boxers are "are women according to their passports" and also passed its own eligibility tests.
The IOC also slammed the IBA's decision, pointing out that the two women had been fighting competitively for years and were allowed to compete in a number of international competitions.
"These two athletes were the victims of a sudden and arbitrary decision by the IBA. Towards the end of the IBA World Championships in 2023, they were suddenly disqualified without any due process," the IOC said in a joint statement with the Paris 2024 committee.
"The current aggression against these two athletes is based entirely on this arbitrary decision, which was taken without any proper procedure – especially considering that these athletes had been competing in top-level competition for many years. Such an approach is contrary to good governance."
In 2021, the IOC released its framework on the matter of gender and sex variation to "ensure that everyone, irrespective of their gender identity or sex variations, can practise sport in a safe, harassment-free environment that recognizes and respects their needs and identities, and the interest of everyone – particularly athletes at elite level – to participate in fair competitions where no participant has an unfair and disproportionate advantage over the rest."
Many sports bodies and the IOC sometimes require women to be tested for testosterone and they can only compete if their testosterone is below a certain level at least 12 months prior to competing. It is often applied to women recognized as having "disorders of sex development" (DSD), which is more commonly known as being intersex, and they are required to reduce their testosterone to be able to compete.
The World Medical Association advises doctors not to administer testosterone-lowering medications because it believes the regulation is "contrary to international medical ethics and human rights standards."
The policies also apply to women with hyperandrogenism, which is a term used to describe high levels of testosterone.
Critics of the policies have argued that they are unfair and revert to outdated concepts of biology.
"While the testosterone may have some impact on how the body works, it is impossible to quantify how much effect it is having," Julian Savulescu, a visiting professor in biomedical ethics at the Murdoch Children's Research Institute, wrote in The Conversation in 2019.
The IOC defended its decision to allow the women to fight ahead of the competition.
"Obviously I am not going to comment on individuals," IOC spokesperson Mark Adams said, per The Guardian. "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."
"I am heartbroken," said Carini as reported in The Guardian. "I went to the ring to honor my father. I was told a lot of times that I was a warrior, but I preferred to stop for my health. I have never felt a punch like this."
She added: "I got into the ring to fight. I didn't give up, but one punch hurt too much and so I said enough. I'm going out with my head held high.
"After the second punch, after years of experience, I felt a strong pain in the nose. I said enough, because I didn't want. I couldn't finish the fight after the punch to the nose. So it was better to put an end to it."
When asked about Khelif's eligibility to fight, Carini said it was "not up to me to judge."
Khelif spoke briefly to the BBC saying: "I am here for gold. I will fight anybody, I will fight them all."
It is not known whether Khelif and Lin identify as transgender or intersex, or if they have hyperandrogenism, but it has reignited a debate about transgender athletes competing in women's sports.
People took to X, formerly Twitter, to share their thoughts, including Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling. She has often been accused of anti-transgender rhetoric, which she has always denied, but slammed Khelif's inclusion in the Olympics.
"Watch this (whole thread), then explain why you're OK with a man beating a woman in public for your entertainment. This isn't sport. From the bullying cheat in red all the way up to the organisers who allowed this to happen, this is men revelling in their power over women," Rowling wrote.
But for Gemma Stone, a transgender writer and co-founder of the Trans Writes news site, the Olympics controversy was just another excuse for "bigots" to share their anti-transgender views online.
"I remain completely unsurprised that in lieu of any transgender people competing in this year's Olympics, the transphobes have sought to instead imagine one the same way they imagine kids being rushed onto hormones or the risks of letting trans women pee in peace," Stone told Newsweek.
"Were obsession an olympic sport these bigots would certainly have my vote for the gold."
Update 08/01/2024 at 11 a.m. ET; This article was updated to include additional information.
Update 08/02/2024 at 5:13 a.m. ET; This article was updated to include the IOC's statement.
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