Italy's Angela Carini on Thursday 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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