VILLEPINTE, France — Imane Khelif and Angela Carini exchanged a few quick punches during their brief 46 seconds of competition in the Paris ring. The encounter was enough to convince Carini that her Olympic debut was over.
The Italian boxer abruptly walked away from her Algerian opponent and retreated to her corner on Thursday, ending the match — a rare occurrence in Olympic boxing.
Carini did not shake Khelif’s hand after the referee raised it, and she broke down in tears on the ring floor. Shortly afterward, she explained that she had quit due to pain from the initial punches.
“I felt severe pain in my nose, and as a seasoned boxer, I decided to stop because I didn’t want to continue under those conditions,” Carini said.
Khelif had been disqualified from the 2023 world championships due to an unspecified gender eligibility test failure, making her presence at the Paris Olympics a controversial topic.
Carini, who had a spot of blood on her trunks, clarified that her decision was not a political statement nor a refusal to fight Khelif. She mentioned that she was not in a position to judge whether Khelif should be allowed to compete.
“I simply did my job as a boxer,” Carini said. “I entered the ring and fought. I did it with integrity and regret not being able to finish the match.”
Later, Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni visited Carini and comforted her, sharing a photo on Meloni’s Instagram page.
“I know you won’t give up, Angela,” Meloni wrote. “And I believe that one day you will achieve what you deserve through hard work and perseverance, in a truly fair competition.”
Imane Khelif, an accomplished amateur boxer who won a silver medal at the International Boxing Association’s (IBA) 2022 world championships, was disqualified from last year’s championships shortly before her gold-medal match due to alleged elevated testosterone levels. The IBA, which has been banned from the Olympics since 2019 following disputes with the International Olympic Committee (IOC), made this decision.
At the North Paris Arena, Khelif was greeted with cheers as she entered the ring, but the crowd was surprised by the abrupt end of the match. Italy’s coach, Emanuele Renzini, said he had offered Carini the chance to withdraw earlier, but Carini was determined to fight until the first minute.
“I’m heartbroken because I am a fighter,” Carini said. “My father taught me to be a warrior. I have always stepped into the ring with honor and served my country loyally. This time, I had to end the match because I couldn’t continue due to the pain.”
Khelif could secure an Olympic medal if she wins her quarterfinal match on Saturday against Anna Luca Hamori, Hungary’s first Olympic female boxer.
Hamori, who defeated Marissa Williamson Pohlman of Australia, showed no apprehension about facing Khelif. “I’m not afraid,” Hamori said. “I don’t care about the media stories or social media. If Khelif is a man, it would be a bigger victory for me.”
Khelif’s passport lists her as female. Though Hamori and Khelif have never sparred, they have competed in the same tournaments before. Hamori emphasized that she is focusing solely on her performance and not on the surrounding controversy. “I’m avoiding my phone before the fight,” she said. “I want to stay focused and not be distracted by comments or news.”
Hamori also shrugged off Carini’s decision to quit. “It was her choice,” Hamori remarked. “I don’t understand it because I believe every boxer should have the mentality to never give up, but it was her decision.”
Both Khelif and Lin Yu-ting of Taiwan, who is also facing scrutiny, have been high-level amateur competitors for years. Lin, a two-time IBA world champion, had her bronze medal stripped last year due to alleged failures in unspecified eligibility tests.
Lin is set to start her Paris campaign on Friday against Sitora Turdibekova of Uzbekistan, following a first-round bye as the No. 1 seed in the 57-kilogram category. However, Olympic seeding often does not reflect the top contenders.
The Algerian Olympic Committee condemned what it called “falsehoods” and “unethical attacks” against Khelif from certain foreign media outlets.
Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni, visiting the Olympic Village, criticized the requirement for Carini to compete against Khelif, stating her opposition to allowing athletes with “genetically male” characteristics to compete against women since 2021. “We must be careful not to discriminate in our attempts to avoid discrimination,” Meloni said.
Khelif and Lin are both two-time Olympians who competed in Tokyo. The IOC has defended the boxers’ right to compete and noted that Olympic boxing achieved gender parity for the first time this year, with equal numbers of men and women participating in Paris.
The IOC’s eligibility rules for boxing are based on the guidelines from the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics. Other sports have updated their gender regulations recently, including World Aquatics, World Athletics, and the International Cycling Union. The track body also tightened rules for athletes with differences in sex development.
The IOC oversees boxing in Paris due to the IBA’s suspension, which was caused by governance issues, lack of financial transparency, and allegations of corruption. The IBA, led by Russian president Umar Kremlev and supported by Gazprom, has lost over thirty members who formed a new organization, World Boxing, aiming for IOC recognition before the 2028 Los Angeles Games.
The IBA has used the presence of Khelif and Lin in Paris to criticize the IOC and attempted a final appeal to the Swiss Federal Tribunal after the Court of Arbitration for Sport upheld the IOC’s ban. The IBA claimed that both boxers were subjected to a “confidential” test for their disqualification, despite not having undergone a “testosterone examination” last year.
