Imane Khelif (L) of Algeria is declared winner after Angela Carini of Italy abandoned their bout in the Women's 66kg preliminaries round of 16 at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, North Paris Arena in Villepinte, France, 1 August 2024. (Photo: EPA-EFE / YAHYA ARHAB) 
Italian boxer Angela Carini pulled out of the Paris Olympics on Thursday after she sustained a series of crunching blows from her Algerian opponent Imane Khelif, who last year failed a gender eligibility test at the World Championships.
Khelif, whose participation in the Games was permitted by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and had divided boxers, landed multiple punches in the first 30 seconds before a powerful right to Carini’s nose prompted the Italian to raise her hand and return to her corner.
Her coach signalled she was pulling out of the women’s welterweight round of 16 bout. A distraught Carini fell to her knees in the ring, sobbing and declining to shake Khelif’s hand after the referee declared the Algerian the winner.
“I am a fighter. My father taught me to be a warrior. When I am in the ring, I use that mindset, the mindset of a warrior, a winning mindset,” Carini told reporters after abandoning the bout. “This time I couldn’t make it.”
“I didn’t lose tonight, I just surrendered with maturity.”
Khelif and Taiwan’s double world champion Lin Yu-ting were cleared to fight in Paris after the IOC last year stripped the International Boxing Association (IBA) of its status as boxing’s governing body over governance issues and took charge of the Paris 2024 boxing competition.
Both had been disqualified at the 2023 World Championships after failing IBA eligibility rules that prevent athletes with male XY chromosomes from competing in women’s events.
/file/dailymaverick/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/GettyImages-2164774411.jpg "Imane Khelif of Team Algeria and Angela Carini of Team Italy exchange punches during the Women's 66kg preliminary round match on day six of the Olympic Games Paris 2024 at North Paris Arena on 1 August 2024 in Paris, France. (Photo: Richard Pelham / Getty Images)")
/file/dailymaverick/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/2164773199.jpg "Angela Carini of Team Italy reacts after abandoning the Women's 66kg preliminary round match against Imane Khelif of Team Algeria in the first round on day six of the Olympic Games Paris 2024 at North Paris Arena on 1 August 2024 in Paris, France. (Photo: Richard Pelham / Getty Images)")
/file/dailymaverick/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/2164772238.jpg "Imane Khelif of Team Algeria looks on as Angela Carini of Team Italy leaves the ring after abandoning their Women's 66kg preliminary round match in the first round on day six of the Olympic Games Paris 2024 at North Paris Arena on 1 August 2024 in Paris, France. (Photo: Richard Pelham / Getty Images)")
DSD policy
The IOC’s Framework on Fairness, Inclusion and Non-Discrimination on the Basis of Gender Identity and Sex Variations, offers guidelines to federations on ensuring inclusion and fairness in sport, including athletes with Differences of Sexual Disorder (DSD).
DSD is a group of rare conditions involving genes, hormones and reproductive organs. Some people with DSD are raised as female but have XY sex chromosomes and blood testosterone levels in the male range.
Ahead of Khelif’s bout, IOC spokesperson Mark Adams defended the body’s decision for Paris 2024.
“This involves real people and we are talking about real people’s lives here,” he told reporters on Thursday. “They have lost and they have won against other women over the years.”
Khelif described the bout as difficult.
“Insh’allah for the second fight. I am very prepared because it’s been eight years of preparation,” she told reporters. “I need an Olympic medal here in Paris.”
Women’s sports categories exist in most sports in recognition of the clear advantage that going through male puberty gives an athlete. That advantage is not just through higher testosterone levels but also in muscle mass, skeletal advantage and faster twitch muscle.
British author JK Rowling, who has become an outspoken figure on the definition of what it is to be a woman, said Carini’s dreams had been shattered by unjust rules.
“A young female boxer has just had everything she’s worked and trained for snatched away because you allowed a male to get in the ring with her,” Rowling wrote on X.
“#Paris2024 will be forever tarnished by this brutal injustice,” she added.
Italy’s right-wing Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said Carini’s bout against Khelif was not a fight among equals.
“I think that athletes who have male genetic characteristics should not be admitted to women’s competitions,” Meloni was quoted as saying by the Italian news agency Ansa.
“And not because you want to discriminate against someone, but to protect the right of female athletes to be able to compete on equal terms.”
Carini told Reuters her dreams had been shattered.
“I’m out, my dream is over,” she said. “So, I felt really sad, with a broken heart. It’s not right for my Olympics to end here, it’s not right for my dream to end here, because an athlete makes so many sacrifices.
“I’m not ashamed to say that I gave up, I’m not even afraid to go back to that ring.”
Taiwan’s Lin will face Uzbekistan’s Sitora Turdibekova in a featherweight bout in Paris on Friday. DM
Explainer: Olympics DSD rules in focus in women’s boxing
The presence at the Paris Olympics of two boxers who were disqualified from last year’s world championships has revived the discussion over whether athletes with DSD should compete in women's competition.
What is DSD?
Differences of Sexual Development (DSD) are a group of rare conditions involving genes, hormones and reproductive organs. Some people with DSD are raised as female but have XY sex chromosomes, blood testosterone levels in the male range and the ability to use testosterone circulating within their bodies.
Why is that an issue in sport?
Women’s sports categories exist in most sports in recognition of the clear advantage that going through male puberty gives an athlete.
That advantage is not just through higher testosterone levels but also in muscle mass, skeletal advantage and faster twitch muscle.
In combat sports such as boxing, this can be a serious safety issue.
What is the issue at the Paris Olympics?
Boxers Imane Khelif and Lin Yu-ting at last year’s World Championships in New Delhi fell foul of International Boxing Association (IBA) eligibility rules that prevent athletes with XY chromosomes from competing in women’s events.
Algeria’s Khelif was disqualified hours before her gold-medal bout in New Delhi, while Taiwan’s double world champion Lin lost her bronze medal after she too failed to meet the criteria.
Why are they allowed to compete at the Olympics?
The IBA was stripped of its status as the global governing body for boxing by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in June last year because of its failure to complete reforms on governance, finance and ethical issues.
The IOC is therefore running the boxing competition at the Paris Games, as it did at the Tokyo Olympics, and its rules on the inclusion of athletes with DSD and gender diversity in the women’s competition apply.
The latest IOC guidelines, issued in 2021 state that inclusion should be the default in such cases and that athletes should only be excluded from women’s competition if there are clear fairness or safety issues.
“Federations need to make the rules to make sure that there is fairness but at the same time with the ability for everyone to take part who wants to. That’s a difficult balance,” said IOC spokesperson Mark Adams on Tuesday.
“In the end, it’s up to the experts for each discipline. They know very well where there is an advantage, and if that is a big advantage then that is clearly not acceptable. But that decision needs to be made at that level.”
Are there any similar cases at the Paris Olympics?
Zambia women’s soccer captain Barbra Banda was ruled out of the 2022 Africa Cup of Nations after failing the Confederation of African Football (CAF) gender eligibility tests.
The 24-year-old did captain her country at last year’s Women’s World Cup and on Sunday scored a hat-trick in the first half of their 6-5 loss to Australia at the Paris Olympics.
Fifa, which organises the Olympic football competition, still uses rules first published in 2011. They state that only men are eligible to play in men’s competitions, and the same for women. Fifa is reviewing its policy but there is no timeline for completion.
What happens in other sports?
South Africa’s double Olympic 800m track champion Caster Semenya has unwittingly been at the centre of this issue for more than a decade.
Over the past couple of years, the governing bodies of athletics, cycling, swimming and rugby union have been tightening their regulations to exclude those with the advantage of going through male puberty from some or all women’s competitions.
Semenya has not been allowed to compete in any distance between 400m and the mile since 2018 unless she maintains lower testosterone levels, which requires medication.
She appeared at the European Court of Human Rights in May to continue her challenge against World Athletics. The case is still being considered.
What does the IOC say about the boxers?
The IOC has defended its decision to allow the two boxers to compete.
“I would just say that everyone competing in the women’s category is complying with the competition eligibility rules,” said IOC spokesperson Adams on Tuesday. “They are women in their passports and it is stated that is the case.”
What do the other boxers say?
“If you’re talking about fighting an actual man, then no, I’m not cool with fighting a man. But in their case, I can’t say specifically on them because I don’t know their scenario or situation,” said Australian boxer Tiana Echegaray on Wednesday.
“Biologically, genetically, they’re going to have more advantages and, in combat sports, it can be dangerous,” said Australian boxer Caitlin Parker.
“I think she is a very strong female boxer. She has a good chance of winning. I have confidence in her. She is very confident,” said Lin’s Taiwan teammate Chia Wei Kan. DM
Read more: Olympic Games Paris 2024