A 46-second boxing match at the 2024 Olympics in Paris has sparked a global controversy surrounding one pugilist's gender. Now, the boxer's opponent, whose post-match condition many used to justify their arguments, has apologized for the firestorm that it caused.
Italian boxer Angela Carini faced off against Imane Khelif of Algeria on Aug. 1 but quit shortly into the match after getting punched hard in the face. Khelif in the past has found herself in the line of fire over her physical strength having a perceived connection to her personal physiology.
Last year, Khelif—along with Taiwanese boxer Lin Yu-Ting, who is also competing at these Olympics—was disqualified from the International Boxing Association's World Championship after the organization claimed she failed a gender test. Though a previous statement attributed to the former head of the IBA claimed Khelif has XY chromosomes, the results of these tests have not been verified or publicly released. The Olympics officially cut ties with the IBA last year over concerns of finances, ethics, and governance.
Questions around Khelif's gender swirled once again after her match against Carini. Carini, for her part, regrets that her defeat has touched off an international controversy. She also stood by the International Olympic Committee's ruling that Khelif can compete.
"All this controversy makes me sad," Carini told Italian newspaper Gazzetta dello Sport. "I’m sorry for my opponent too… If the IOC said she can fight, I respect that decision."
After the match, Carini didn't shake hands with Khelif, a move she also was apologetic about.
"It wasn’t something I intended to do," Carini explained. “Actually, I want to apologize 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."
Related: Olympic Committee Speaks Out After Boxing Gender Controversy
Carini isn't the only boxer who's faced off against Khelif who is supporting her participation in the Games. Irish boxer Amy Broadhurst, who defeated Khelif to win the gold medal at the 2022 IBA World Championship, took to social media to state plainly that people claiming Khelif is a man are misinformed.
"[I] have a lot of people texting me over Imane Khelif. Personally I don’t think she has done anything to 'cheat.' I thinks it’s the way she was born and that’s out of her control. The fact that she has been beaten by nine females before says it all," she wrote on X.
Broadhurst later took to Instagram to share a photo of the two from their match, as well as a childhood photo of Khelif, to back up her support.
"IBA released the statement that two boxers failed a gender test over a year ago. That’s all well and good but where are the results? They haven’t been published yet so people are just believing what’s been said. Bear in mind IBA were banned from having anything to do with the Olympics so what a brilliant time for them to kick up a storm—during the Olympic Games," she captioned her post.
"The abuse this person has received in the last 24 hours without any real facts or proof is so wrong!" she continued. "Please keep in mind if your child was going through something like this what would you do. Wait for facts, wait for the results to become known, and then make your opinion but stop the bullying!"
After the backlash exploded, the IOC released a statement condemning the false accusations and defended its decision to allow Khelif and Lin to compete.
"We have seen in reports misleading information about two female athletes competing at the Olympic Games Paris 2024," the IOC stated plainly. "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," the IOC said.
"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," the statement read.
"The current aggression against these two athletes is based entirely on this arbitrary decision, which was taken without any proper procedure—especially considering that these athletes had been competing in top-level competition for many years. Such an approach is contrary to good governance," it continued.
IOC spokesperson Mark Adams echoed a similar sentiment.
"There has been some confusion that somehow it’s a man fighting a woman. This is just not the case," he told The New York Times. "This woman has competed for a very, very long time in women’s sport against many opponents... So, I think if you start working on all suspicions, then we end up very much heading towards a gender-testing regime, which is not good for anybody."
"The question you have to ask yourself is, are these athletes women? The answer is yes, according to their eligibility, their passport, their history," he went on to add. "The Algerian boxer was born female, was registered female, lived her life as a female, boxed as a female, has a female passport. This is not a transgender case."
Khelif has never publicly identified as transgender or intersex, and claims around her genetic makeup and testosterone levels are largely speculative. Algeria prohibits medical gender transition of any kind and recognition of transgender people on official documents. Khelif is designated "female" on her passport, which the IOC uses to categorize athletes.
Khelif's next match is against Anna Luca Hámori of Hungary in the quarterfinals on Aug. 3.
