IMANE Khelif has been cleared to compete at the Olympics, despite previously being banned for failing a gender test.
Here’s everything we know about the fighter, whose opponent left the ring after less than a minute at Paris 2024.
Who is 2024 Olympics boxer Imane Khelif?
Imane Khelif, 25, was cleared to compete in the women’s boxing at the Paris Games.
This is in spite of the fact she was disqualified from the 2023 Women’s World Championships for failing to meet eligibility criteria.
Khelif was disqualified in New Delhi for failing a testosterone level test, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) said.
On August 1, Angela Carini, 25, stopped her controversial fight with Khelif after just 46 seconds.
She took two powerful shots to the face before abruptly ending the contest.
The boxer from Naples didn’t acknowledge her opponent following the 66kg welterweight fight.
The decision was with the Olympics rather than me, whether this opponent should fight
Angela Carini
Shortly after Khelif tried to approach her, Carini fell to her knees and burst into tears.
Eugenia Roccella, Italy’s family minister, and Andrea Abodi, the sports minister, had earlier voiced their concerns about the eligibility rules at Paris 2024.
Following the fight, a spokesperson for the Italian team revealed that friends and family told Carini not to even enter the ring.
The Italian boxer’s tears continued as she spoke to the press after the bout.
Speaking in Italian, Carini said that she’d “never felt a punch like it”, adding that she was there to “honour her father and represent her country” and felt “heartbroken”.
Carini then revealed: “I have big pain in my nose and blood on my finger.”
She added: “The decision was with the Olympics rather than me, whether this opponent should fight.”
Khelif was marched straight out of the arena and through the mixed zone without speaking to the press.
Which country does Olympics boxer Imane Khelif represent?
Khelif is representing Algeria at Paris 2024.
The Algerian Olympic Committee (COA) had defended Khelif’s participation prior to the fight.
Their statement read: “COA strongly condemns the unethical targeting and maligning of our esteemed athlete, Imane Khelif, with baseless propaganda from certain foreign media outlets.”
It went on to add: “Such attacks on her personality and dignity are deeply unfair, especially as she prepares for the pinnacle of her career at the Olympics.
“The COA has taken all necessary measures to protect our champion.”
While Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said: “I think that athletes who have male genetic characteristics should not be admitted to women’s competitions.
“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.”
Olympics gender controversy
By Mark Fleming
THE International Olympic Committee (IOC) stirred up a huge controversy by clearing two women to box who had previously failed a gender test.
Algeria’s Imane Khelif and Taiwan’s Lin Yu-ting were disqualified at the Women’s World Championships in New Delhi, India, in March 2023.
Lin Yu-ting was stripped of a bronze medal after failing a gender eligibility test.
Khelif was disqualified in New Delhi for failing a testosterone level test.
Officials found tests showed they had ‘XY chromosomes’ — which indicates a person is biologically male.
Rare ‘intersex’ medical conditions, medically known as differences in sexual development (DSDs), can also mean outwardly female individuals can have ‘male’ chromosomes, or vice versa.
The Russia-led International Boxing Association organised that event but is no longer recognised by the IOC.
IOC spokesman Mark Adams said: “These athletes have competed many times before for many years, they haven’t just suddenly arrived – they competed in Tokyo.
“The federation needs to make the rules to make sure that there is fairness but at the same time there is the ability for everyone to take part that wants to. That is a difficult balance.
“In the end the experts for each sport are the people who work in that. If there is a big advantage that clearly is not acceptable, but that needs to be a decision made at that level.”
Both Khelif and Lin competed at the delayed Olympic Games in Tokyo in 2021. Lin is a two-time winner at the Asian Women Amateur Boxing Championships.
The IOC said all boxers in Paris “comply with the competition’s eligibility and entry regulations”.
The controversy follows the famous case of Caster Semenya.
South African middle-distance runner Semenya has a condition which means her body naturally produces higher levels of testosterone than normal for women.
She won gold in the 800m at London 2012 and Rio in 2016 but was unable to compete at Tokyo in 2021 after World Athletics brought in new rules independently of the IOC at the time.
