After Repeated Hits, Female Boxer Forfeits Match Against Boxer Who Failed Gender Tests Last Year

Brittany M. Hughes | August 1, 2024
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A female boxer lasted less than a minute during her Olympic match against a competitor who failed the gender eligibility requirement for the world championships just last year.

Italy’s Angela Carini abandoned her Thursday fight against Algeria’s Imane Khelif after just 46 seconds after being repeatedly punched in the head, telling her coach that her nose hurt too much to continue. She then sobbed on the mat as Khelif was announced the winner.

In a post -fight interview, Carini said she'd never been hit so hard.

Related: Two Boxers Who Failed Gender Eligibility Tests Last Year Will Compete Against Women In Paris

"I had entered the ring to fight," she told a reporter about 20 minutes later, speaking in Italian. ”I didn't give up, but a punch hurt too much and so I said enough. I go out with my head held high.”

Khelif is one of two boxers who were disqualified from the women’s world championships in 2023 for failing to meet gender eligibility requirements just last year, but who have both been cleared by the IOC to compete against women during the Paris Olympics. The International Boxing Association, the governing board that accused both Kehlif and Taiwan's Lin Yu-ting of being men in disguise, had said tests came back showing Khelif had “XY” chromosomes and was therefore a biological male. The boxer was booted from the competition just hours before a scheduled fight against Yang Liu last year.

At the time, the Algerian Olympic Committee claimed their boxer was disqualified for “medical reasons,” while Khelif blamed a “conspiracy” to keep Algeria from winning a gold medal. Neither Khelif nor the IOC has addressed claims that the boxer is a male. However, one female boxer told Yahoo! Sports she’s relieved to have survived her fight with Khelif back in 2022, which had to be stopped in the third round after Khelif landed multiple blows to her head, saying she'd never fought any woman who threw hits like that.