Barely 40 seconds, the boxing match between Angela Carini and Imane Khelif lasted very little: the Italian gave up and was excluded from the women's welterweight boxing tournament. Carini decided not to continue after being hit twice by the Algerian boxer. Then she burst into tears. For the moment, it was only understood that the Italian had left the ring, but then she gave the explanation herself: “I entered the ring to fight. I did not give up, but a punch hurt me too much and then i said enough“. Angela Carini thus explains, still in tears, her sudden withdrawal during the match against the hyper-androgynous Algerian boxer Imane Khelif at the Paris 2024 Olympics. “I'm leaving with my head held high,” added the Italian. In an interview given on Tg2, the tearful athlete gives a slightly different version: “I left the ring because I didn't want to fight anymore. It's not up to me to judge.”
Paris: Coach Carini “no premeditation in the withdrawal”
“It would have been easier not to show up, because all of Italy had been asking her not to fight for days. But Angela was motivated and wanted to do it. Of course, at the draw, when she met her opponent, she told me “This is not good”. But here today, there was no premeditation. Italian boxing coach Emanuele Renzini talks about the match of discord. Carini left after “receiving a blow, she told me she didn't feel like fighting and she didn't want to fight. I tried to tell her to go at least until the end of the first round so we could fight, but nothing”
Why did the controversy arise?
AND become A typical example is the participation of the hyper-androgynous Algerian athlete Imane Khelif at the boxing tournament Paris Olympic Games.
The North African athlete is in the spotlight because athe Paris Games, the IOC announced that the Algerian athlete is allowed participate because it meets all the requirements. Choice opposite to that made byInternational Boxing Association which organized the last World Championships and I had decided to exclude it for myself high testosterone levels and – according to the IBA – for the presence of biological male sex chromosomes in the DNA test. This is not by Imane Khelif It has never been confirmed that he changed gender.so calling her transgender is currently incorrect. has fought in the women's category since she was a child and won world silver in 2022 in Istanbul. But in New Delhi in 2023, she was disqualified before the final for high testosterone levels.
The position of the Minister of Sports
Her presence in the women's tournament does not convince everyone. “Coni has taken measures with the International Olympic Committee to ensure that the rights of all athletes, men and women, are in line with the Olympic Charter and health regulations,” can be read on the Coni website.
In the meantime, he also expresses his opinion on the subject Sports Minister Andrea Abodi. “I find it difficult to understand that there is no alignment in the parameters of minimum hormonal values at the international level, which therefore includes the European Championships, the World Championships and the Olympic Games. In the event that represents the highest values in sport, the safety of male and female athletes must be guaranteed. , And respect for fair competition from a competitive point of view. “Tomorrow it will not be like this for Angela Carini,” says the minister.
The issue of transgender or hyperandrogenic athletes is very slippery: on the one hand, the rights of those who ask to express their gender identity in sport, on the other, the protection of the regularity of competitions and safety, particularly in a contact sport.
For Sports Minister Abodi, “that of transgender athletes is a theme that must be brought back into the category of respect in all its forms”, but by distinguishing “the practice of sport from competition which must allow us to compete on equal terms, in complete safety.” “It is quite clear that the dimension of gender identity in the competitive field raises the problem of equality of opportunity or the same opportunities; it is no coincidence that many sports disciplines have imposed on transgender athletes the necessary restrictions to allow them to compete under the same conditions. “In this case, we are witnessing an interpretation of the concept of inclusiveness that does not take into account the primary and indispensable factors,” the minister added.
A combo of Italian athlete Angela Carini (S) who will have to fight a boxing match against Algerian trans Imane Khelif (R) (HANDLE)
Gaynet's accuracy
“The Algerian athlete Imane Khelif, who will face the Italian athlete Angela Carini tomorrow, is not a trans woman, contrary to the information that has been circulating since yesterday. According to the information we have about her, she is an intersex person“, who has always been socialized as a woman and who has a sporting career in women's competitions,” says Rosario Coco, president of Gaynet. “It is not clear – the reconstructions are contradictory – whether Khelif and Li-Yuting, another intersex athlete of the same situation, should be chromosomal or hormonal. In any case, it would be a case of variation of sexual characteristics, a general definition that also includes intersexuality. What we know for sure is that we are facing two athletes with a single career. “Women's sport behind her. In the case of Khelif, however, it must be remembered that Algeria also prohibits the change of sex on documents,” adds Coco.
