VILLEPINTE, France — Imane Khelif and Angela Carini exchanged several swift punches during their brief 46-second bout in the Paris ring, which was enough for Carini to decide her Olympic debut was over.
The Italian boxer unexpectedly walked away from her Algerian opponent and returned to her corner on Thursday, abandoning the match—an exceptionally rare occurrence in Olympic boxing.
Carini did not shake Khelif’s hand after the referee declared Khelif the winner. Instead, she sank to her knees and cried in the ring. Minutes later, still in tears, Carini explained that she had to quit due to the intense pain from those initial punches.
“I felt a severe pain in my nose, and with the maturity of a boxer, I said ‘enough,’ because I didn’t want to, I didn’t want to, I couldn’t finish the match,” Carini said.
Khelif, who was disqualified from the 2023 world championships after failing an unspecified gender eligibility test, has sparked controversy with her participation in the Paris Olympics.
“I just did my job as a boxer,” Carini remarked. “I stepped into the ring and fought. I did so with pride, despite having a heavy heart for not completing the final stretch.”
Later, Carini was visited by Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni, who offered support in a photo shared on Meloni’s Instagram page. “I know you won’t give up, Angela,” Meloni wrote. “And I believe that one day you will earn what you truly deserve through hard work and determination, in a competition that is finally fair.”
Khelif, a distinguished amateur boxer, earned a silver medal at the International Boxing Association’s 2022 world championships. However, the IBA, which has been banned from the Olympics since 2019 due to ongoing disputes with the IOC, disqualified her from last year’s championships just before her gold-medal match, citing elevated testosterone levels as the reason.
The 25-year-old Khelif entered the ring at the North Paris Arena to enthusiastic cheers, but the crowd was left puzzled by the bout’s abrupt conclusion. Italy coach Emanuele Renzini revealed that he had discussed the match with Carini and offered her the option to withdraw earlier, but Carini was “very determined” to fight until the first minute.
“I am heartbroken because I am a fighter,” Carini said. “My father taught me to be a warrior. I have always entered the ring with honor and served my country with loyalty. This time, I couldn’t continue, so I had to end the match.”
Khelif now has the opportunity to secure an Olympic medal with a victory in her quarterfinal bout on Saturday against Anna Luca Hamori, Hungary’s first Olympic female boxer.
Hamori, who decisively defeated Marissa Williamson Pohlman of Australia, expressed no apprehension about facing Khelif. “I’m not scared,” Hamori said. “I don’t care about the press or social media. If she or he is a man, it will make the victory even sweeter for me.”
Khelif’s passport lists her as female.
Although Khelif and Hamori have never sparred together, they have previously competed in the same tournament. Hamori has consistently stated that she is not focusing on the surrounding controversy, viewing it as a distraction from her pursuit of gold.
“I’m trying to avoid using my phone before the fight,” Hamori explained. “I don’t want to get caught up in the comments, the story, or the news. I just want to concentrate on myself. I did it before my last two fights, and I believe that’s the key.”
Hamori had a nonchalant reaction to Carini’s decision to quit. “It was her choice,” Hamori said. “I don’t understand it, because I thought every boxer’s mindset was the same as mine—to never give up. But it was her decision. We don’t know the reasons, and it’s her life. I just know I want to live my own life in my own way.”
After years of competing in amateur tournaments worldwide, Khelif and Lin Yu-ting of Taiwan are now facing significant scrutiny in Paris. Lin, a two-time IBA world champion in 2018 and 2022, had a bronze medal stripped last year by the governing body due to failing to meet unspecified eligibility requirements in a biochemical test.
Lin starts her Paris campaign on Friday, facing Sitora Turdibekova of Uzbekistan in her opening bout after receiving a first-round bye as the No. 1 seed in the 57-kilogram category. However, Olympic seeding often does not reflect the top contenders in a division.
On Wednesday, the Algerian Olympic Committee issued a statement denouncing what it called “lies” and “unethical targeting” of Imane Khelif, accusing certain foreign media outlets of spreading baseless propaganda.
Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni, visiting Italian athletes at the Olympic Village on Thursday, criticized the decision that required Carini to box Khelif. She expressed her opposition to allowing athletes with “genetically male” characteristics to compete against women, a stance she has held since 2021.
“We need to be cautious not to inadvertently discriminate while trying to avoid discrimination,” Meloni said.
Khelif and Lin are both two-time Olympians who competed in the Tokyo Games. Lin has been an elite amateur boxer for a decade, while Khelif has been competing at a high level for six years.
This week, the IOC has consistently defended the boxers' eligibility to compete. For the first time, Olympic boxing has achieved gender parity this year, with an equal number of 124 men and 124 women participating in Paris.
The IOC based its eligibility decisions for boxers on the gender-related rules from the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics. Over the past three years, several sports organizations, including World Aquatics, World Athletics, and the International Cycling Union, have updated their gender regulations. Additionally, the track body tightened rules last year regarding athletes with differences in sex development.
The IOC is overseeing boxing in Paris because it revoked the Olympic status of the IBA due to longstanding governance issues, financial transparency concerns, and numerous allegations of corruption in judging and refereeing.
The IBA, led by Russian president Umar Kremlev, has faced criticism for its decision to allow Russian state-owned Gazprom as its primary sponsor and relocate many of its operations to Russia. The IBA has lost over three dozen members, who have since formed a new organization, World Boxing, seeking IOC recognition as the sport’s governing body before the 2028 Los Angeles Games.
The IBA has seized on the controversy surrounding the two boxers to criticize the IOC. After the Court of Arbitration for Sport upheld the IOC’s ban earlier this year, the IBA appealed to the Swiss Federal Tribunal in a final effort to overturn the decision.
On Wednesday, the IBA issued a statement claiming that both boxers were not subjected to a “testosterone examination” last year but to a “separate and recognized test” for their disqualification. The IBA did not disclose the specifics of the test, stating that details remain confidential.
The IBA had disregarded IOC recommendations by allowing Russian fighters to compete under the Russian flag at the 2023 world championships and subsequently disqualified Khelif only after she defeated Russian boxer Azalia Amineva in the tournament.
*Associated Press Writer Nicole Winfield in Rome contributed to this report.*