Algeria's Imane Khelif, left, fights against Italy's Angela Carini in their women's 66kg preliminary boxing match at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Thursday, Aug. 1, in Paris, France.Siegfried Modola /The Globe and Mail
It took just 46 seconds for Algeria’s Imane Khelif to win her first boxing match at the Paris Olympics on Thursday and deepen the controversy surrounding her participation in the Games.
Ms. Khelif came out swinging and hit Italy’s Angela Carini in the face with two quick jabs. The Italian took the first blow but then stopped briefly and walked over to her trainer. After the second shot, she abandoned the fight. Ms. Khelif threw her arms up in triumph, while Ms. Carini, 25, held back tears.
The rapid and odd end to the fight left the crowd stunned and raised more questions about Ms. Khelif, who has come under fierce scrutiny over her gender since arriving in Paris.
Ms. Khelif, 25, is a rising star of the sport. She has a 36-9 record as an amateur and a collection of medals from various international competitions. But she’s also believed to be among a handful of athletes who have differences of sex development, or DSD – formerly known as intersex individuals – which in her case causes high levels of testosterone.
The sports world has struggled for years over how to deal with athletes with DSD who identify as women but naturally produce more testosterone. Critics argue they have an unfair advantage, but others say these athletes often have to meet humiliating requirements in order to compete.
The most famous case involves South African runner Caster Semenya, who has been waging a legal battle with World Athletics over regulations the federation introduced in 2018 that require athletes with DSD competing in certain events to take medication to lower their testosterone levels. The regulations have been upheld by the Court of Arbitration for Sport, but Ms. Semenya has filed a challenge at the European Court of Human Rights.
The governing bodies of cycling, swimming and rugby union have also tightened their rules concerning testosterone levels.
Ms. Khelif has not confirmed that she has DSD. But during last year’s world boxing championships, she was disqualified just before the gold-medal match because her testosterone levels failed to meet the eligibility criteria. Another boxer, Taiwan’s Lin Yu‑ting, was also kicked out for the same reason.
Afterward, the head of the International Boxing Association (IBA) said both fighters had XY chromosomes, which are found in males. “Based on DNA tests, we identified a number of athletes who tried to trick their colleagues into posing as women,” IBA president Umar Kremlev told Russian media at the time.
Normally the International Olympic Committee (IOC) defers to a sport’s governing body to determine which athletes are allowed to compete at the Olympics. But the IOC does not recognize the IBA because of long-standing concerns over the association’s governance and finances. Olympic officials who organized the Paris 2024 boxing tournament took a more lenient stand and allowed Ms. Khelif and Ms. Lin to compete.
In a statement this week, the IOC said “all athletes participating in the boxing tournament of the Olympic Games Paris 2024 comply with the competition’s eligibility and entry regulations, as well as all applicable medical regulations.”
IOC spokesperson Mark Adams acknowledged that the rules concerning eligibility for female athletes were complicated. “Everyone would love to have a single answer: yes, no, yes, no. But it’s incredibly complex,” he said.
But the differing treatment has only heightened the debate raging around Ms. Khelif and Ms. Lin, who fights her first match on Friday.
The IBA issued a statement Wednesday criticizing the IOC for using different eligibility requirements. “The IOC’s differing regulations on these matters, in which IBA is not involved, raise serious questions about both competitive fairness and athletes’ safety,” the association said.
Ms. Carini told reporters after the match that Ms. Khelif’s punch was too hard and that she couldn’t go on. “I went to the corner, I raised my hand and I said, ‘Enough – it’s too painful,’ ” she said.
She said she’d been taught to box by her father, who always told her to be a warrior in the ring. “This time I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t keep on fighting, so I stopped the match,” she said through tears, adding that, like a warrior, she threw down her sword in surrender.
It was the second heartbreaking Olympics for Ms. Carini. Her father died the night before her first fight at the Tokyo Games, which she lost. She quit the sport but made a comeback eight months ago. “She told me: ‘I want to come back. Boxing is my life,’ ” said her trainer, Emanuele Renzini. “‘Last Olympics my father died. Today this,’ ” he recalled her saying, his voice trailing off.
Mr. Renzini said Ms. Carini had been told by several people not to fight Ms. Khelif. “Many people in Italy tried to call and tell her: ‘Don’t go, please. It’s a man, it’s dangerous for you,’ ” he said.
Neither he nor Ms. Carini wanted to comment on whether Ms. Khelif should have been allowed to fight. “I’m not here to judge,” she said. “I simply came in the ring to fight for my dream.”
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni weighed in Thursday by challenging Ms. Khelif’s participation.
“I think that athletes who have male genetic characteristics should not be admitted to women’s competitions. And not because you want to discriminate against someone, but to protect the right of female athletes to be able to compete on equal terms,” she said.
The Algerian had little to say after the match. “I am here for gold,” she told broadcasters. “I will fight anybody. I will fight them all.”
She had plenty of support in the crowd. She entered the ring to a roar of cheers, and several spectators waved Algerian flags. Algeria’s Olympic Committee, the COA, has also stood by the athlete.
The “COA strongly condemns the unethical targeting and maligning of our esteemed athlete, Imane Khelif, with baseless propaganda from certain foreign media outlets,” the committee said in a statement this week. “Such attacks on her personality and dignity are deeply unfair, especially as she prepares for the pinnacle of her career at the Olympics. The COA has taken all necessary measures to protect our champion.”
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