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Italy’s Angela Carini quit 46 seconds into her Olympic boxing match with Imane Khelif on Thursday, after the Algerian – who failed a gender eligibility test last year – landed the first significant punch of the fight.
The pair were competing in the women’s 66kg category, in a round-of-16 bout in Paris, but the fight had barely begun before it came to a premature end.
After an early pause in the fight, due to Carini needing to adjust her head guard, Khelif landed a clean right hand. Almost immediately, Carini motioned to her team and opted against continuing, with the referee waving off the contest.
After Khelif’s hand was raised, Carini dropped to her knees in tears. Before and after that moment, the Italian twice seemed to ignore Khelif’s attempts to console her.
Carini could also be heard telling her coach, “It's not right, it's not right!” before promptly leaving the arena. The 25-year-old soon told reporters that she had never been punched so hard in her career. Khelif, also 25, did not stop to answer questions.
Last year, Khelif was disqualified hours before her gold-medal bout at the women’s World Championships in New Delhi, after she failed to meet the International Boxing Association’s (IBA) eligibility criteria. Taiwan’s double world champion Lin Yu-ting lost her bronze medal at the same competition, after she too failed to meet the criteria. Lin competed at the Olympics on Friday and won her first bout.
The IBA did not specify why the boxers failed their gender eligibility tests but did clarify that neither underwent testosterone examinations. Neither Khelif nor two-time world champion Lin, 28, identifies as transgender or intersex.
The World Championships were organised by the IBA, which is no longer a federation recognised by the International Olympic Committee. The boxing competition at the Paris Olympics is being organised by the Paris Boxing Unit (PBU), an ad-hoc unit established by the IOC’s Executive Board.
The IOC said in a statement at the start of the tournament: “All athletes participating in the boxing tournament of the Olympic Games Paris 2024 comply with the competition’s eligibility and entry regulations, as well as all applicable medical regulations in accordance with rules 1.4 and 3.1 of the Paris 2024 Boxing Unit.
“The PBU endeavoured to restrict amendments to minimise the impact on athletes’ preparation and guaranteeing consistency between Olympic Games.”
Carini said after her fight on Thursday: “For me, it’s not a defeat. For me, when you climb those ropes, you’re already a warrior; you’re already a winner. Regardless of everything, it’s okay, fine like this.
“I didn’t lose tonight [...] I only did my job as a fighter. I got in the ring and I fought. I didn’t make it. I’m coming out with my head held high and with a broken heart.
“I’m a mature woman. The ring is my life. I’ve always been very instinctive, and when I feel that something isn’t right, it’s not giving up. It’s having the maturity to stop, it’s having the maturity to say: ‘OK, that’s enough.’”
“I got in the ring and I said: ‘I’m going to give it all I’ve got, regardless of the person in front of me, who doesn’t interest me at this moment.’ I had to give my best. So, with regard to all the controversies, I was never interested. I went in and I just wanted to win.”
Speaking to the BBC, she added: “It could have been the match of a lifetime, but I had to preserve my life as well in that moment.”
Later, Carini expressed regret at her behaviour in the aftermath of the fight and said she would like to apologise to Khelif.
“All this controversy makes me sad,” said Carini in an interview with Italian outlet La Gazzetta dello Sport, according to the BBC and the Associated Press. “I’m sorry for my opponent, too. If the IOC said she can fight, I respect that decision.
“It wasn’t something I intended to do [not shake her hand]. Actually, I want to apologise to her and everyone else. I was angry because my Olympics had gone up in smoke. I don’t have anything against Khelif. Actually, if I were to meet her again I would embrace her.”
Additional reporting by Reuters
