The Paris Olympic Games have just witnessed a scandalous scene during the boxing event—and one that could easily have been predicted. A young Italian boxer, Angela Carini, quit her match against a male opponent who delivered a violent blow to her head. The scene was impressive for its violence and brevity. After only 46 seconds of confrontation, the young Italian Olympian was demolished by the Algerian boxer Imane Khelif, who punched her in the face. The sportswoman immediately chose to forfeit: “I went into the ring to fight. I didn’t surrender, but one punch hurt too much and I said that’s enough.” She broke down in tears at the injustice of the situation, which prevented her from showing off her talent.
In a moving video, she had earlier explained that she had wanted to take part in the competition in memory of her father.
Imane Khelif is an Algerian boxer who carries male XY chromosomes but fights in the female category. In 2023, Khelif was banned from fighting at international level because of testosterone levels that were over the accepted limit. However, Khelif was allowed to take part in the Olympic Games. According to the French essayist Marguerite Stern, a specialist in transgender issues, Khelif did not ‘transition’ but suffers from a chromosomal disease known as gonadal dysgenesis, which gives the carrier a male hormonal constitution. As a result, Stern thinks Khelif should never have been allowed to compete in the women’s category.
Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni came to Angela Carini’s defence, saying that “athletes with male genetic characteristics should not be admitted to women’s competitions.” Matteo Salvini, vice-president of the Council and former interior minister, denounced a “slap in the face to the ethics of sport and the credibility of the Olympics.”
On social media, a hashtag #IStandWithAngelaCarini was launched in defence of the Italian. Writer J.K. Rowling called out the “misogynist sporting powers” who had deemed Imane Khelif eligible for the Olympics: “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,” she said.
To date, there are no uniform rules governing the participation of transgender athletes in Olympic competitions. Each federation therefore sets its own rules. For boxing, the rules for the Games have been established by the Paris Boxing Unit (PBU), because the organisation that ruled against Khelif’s participation in 2023, the International Boxing Association (IBA), chaired by Russian Umar Kremlev, has not been recognised anymore by the IOC since June. IOC spokesman Mark Adams clumsily defended himself by explaining that the testosterone test was not “a perfect test.”
In Algeria, it is felt that Khelif is the subject of an unfair smear campaign. Khelif is counting on a gold medal despite the controversy.
