Italy's Angela Carini on Friday
abandoned her controversial bout in the women's boxing at the
2024 Paris Olympics against Imane Khelif, an Algerian who was
disqualified from last year's world championships for failing
gender-eligibility tests.
The 25-year-old from Naples stopped fighting seconds into round
of 16 women's welterweight (under 66kg) contest and fell to her
knees and wept after Khelif was declared the winner.
Italian government ministers had expressed concern about whether
it was safe and fair for Carini to be pitched against Khelif.
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has used a different
set of rules for admission to the Paris 2024 tournament than
those for the world championships and has also allowed Chinese
Taipei's Lin Yu‑ting to compete after she was banned from the
2023 world championships too.
"I find it difficult to understand that there is no alignment in
the parameters of minimum hormonal values at an international
level, which includes the European and world championships and
the Olympics," Sports Minister Abodi said on Wednesday.
"In the event that represents the highest values of sport, the
safety of female and male athletes must be guaranteed, as well
as respect for fair competition".
Rosario Coco, the president of the Gaynet communications
association, said there was no evidence that reports Khelif is
transgender are true
"In contrast to the reports that have been circulating, the
Algerian athlete Imane Khelif is not a trans woman," said Coco.
"From the information we have about her, she is an intersex
person, who has always socialized as a woman and has a sporting
history in women's competitions".
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