The Olympic bout between Algerian boxer Imane Khelif and Italian Angela Carini has sparked global outrage among prominent figures such as former US President Donald Trump, tech billionaire Elon Musk and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.
Khalif was declared the winner after Carini surrendered just 46 seconds into the middleweight bout, after receiving several punches to the face. “It is a fact that with the levels of testosterone in the blood of an Algerian athlete, the competition initially does not seem fair,” the Italian prime minister said in an attack on the International Olympic Committee after Carini’s round of 16 match in Paris.
“We must be careful not to discriminate in an attempt to avoid discrimination,” she added. “The fact that Angela has withdrawn makes me even sadder.” In a post on social media, Republican presidential candidate and running mate JD Vance echoed similar sentiments. The International Olympic Committee has defended its decision to allow two boxers to compete at the Paris Olympics despite a gender dispute, saying the female boxers faced “aggression” over an arbitrary decision.
Khaliev and two-time world champion Lin Yu-ting of Taiwan won the green light to fight in Paris after the IOC last year stripped the International Boxing Association of its status as boxing’s governing body over patent issues, taking over the Paris 2024 boxing competition. The winner was disqualified from the 2023 world championships after failing the AIBA’s eligibility requirements that bar athletes with XY tags from competing in the competitions.
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