Paris Olympics 2024: IOC defends gender policy after female boxer feared she was fighting ‘a man’

Olympic boxing fans and sporting pundits have voiced their outrage after a female Italian competitor threw in the towel 46 seconds into a bout fearing she was fighting a man.

IOC officials have been forced to defend their gender position on athletes after Algerian boxer Imane Khelif took to the ring in a first-round bout against Angela Carini who has said she withdrew from the bout to ‘safeguard her life’.

Carini’s headgear became dislodged twice after punches before she quit and she refused to shake Khelif’s hand after the decision was announced.

“She felt pain in the nose and said to me, ‘I don’t want to fight more’,” her Italian coach Emanuele Renzini said.

“People say, ‘Don’t go, it’s dangerous, she’s a man’. Maybe it’s this (why she quit).

“It’s not my decision, It’s a difficult decision.’’

The IOC on Friday released a statement to try and qualify its position as it scrambles to quell the ill sentiment surrounding its decision to let certain athletes compete.

“We have seen in reports misleading information about two female athletes competing at the Olympic Games Paris 2024,” the IOC said.

“The two athletes have been competing in international boxing competitions for many years in the women’s category, including the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020, International Boxing Association (IBA) World Championships and IBA-sanctioned tournaments.

“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.

“According to the IBA minutes available on their website, this decision was initially taken solely by the IBA Secretary General and CEO. The IBA Board only ratified it afterwards and only subsequently requested that a procedure to follow in similar cases in the future be established and reflected in the IBA Regulations.

“The minutes also say that the IBA should ‘establish a clear procedure on gender testing.

“The current aggression against these two athletes is based entirely on this arbitrary decision.”

Khelif’s next opponent has declared that if “she or he is a man” it would only prove a greater victory after a 46-second bout and conflicting gender eligibility rules rocked the Paris Games.

Kheli and Taiwan’s Lin Yuting of Taiwan were disqualified from last year’s International Boxing Association-run world championships after they failed the gender eligibility test and were deemed to have a competitive advantage.

That test remains unspecified, but the IBA did clarify that neither underwent testosterone examinations.

The International Olympic Committee has taken over from the IBA as boxing’s sanctioning body due to integrity concerns and, under different criteria, has allowed both to compete.

Australia’s Marissa Williamson’s comprehensive loss meant she avoided a next-up encounter with the Algerian, who will instead meet historic Hungarian Anna Luca Hamori in a Saturday quarter-final that’s captured the world’s attention.

“I’m not scared,” Hamori said ahead of their first meeting, before adding that she didn’t understand why Carini had thrown in the towel.

“I don’t care about the story ... if she or he is a man it’ll be a bigger victory for me if I will win. So let’s do it.

“It’s going to be a great fight and I hope I will win. I can’t wait.”

As the sport fights for its Olympic future, it has become a lightning rod for criticism, with Williamson backing her Australia boxing captain, Caitlin Parker, who labelled it “dangerous”.

Italy’s boxing team leader Alberto Tappa was seen in a discussion with IOC officials in the hours after Carini’s fight.

“We hope for the future that it will be more clear, for all the teams,” Tappa said of a conversation that stretched beyond the eligibility rules.

“The pressure ... a lot of people from Italy said not to fight, to protest.”

The 25-year-old entered the ring at the North Paris Arena to a chorus of cheers, but the crowd was confused by the bout’s sudden end.

Khelif then dodged media as she briskly exited the arena, while Carini fought through tears to explain it was the injury and not a protest, that forced her sudden abandonment.

“I felt a strong pain in my nose and ... could no longer finish the match,” she said.

“I am heartbroken because I am a fighter, my father taught me to be a warrior.

“I felt all the controversy that there has been ... that was not something that stopped me or blocked me mentally.”

Lin, a dual Olympian like Khelif, will begin the action on Friday, having won IBA world championships in 2018 and 2022.

But the governing body stripped her of a bronze medal last year because it claimed she failed to meet unspecified eligibility requirements in a biochemical test.

The Algerian Olympic Committee issued a statement on Wednesday condemning what they termed “lies” and “unethical targeting and maligning of our esteemed athlete, Imane Khelif, with baseless propaganda from certain foreign media outlets.”

With AP