A “gender scandal” erupted at the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris because the organizers allowed athletes with XY chromosomes (male) to compete in the women’s competition, The Guardian reported. As it became known, in the 1/8 finals, Italian boxer Angela Carini refused to fight Iman Khelif. The fight was stopped 46 seconds after it started.
Carini cried and said that the blows that Khelif had dealt her were too strong.
“After the second punch, after many years of experience, I felt a strong pain in my nose. I said enough is enough because I didn’t want to. I couldn’t continue the fight after a blow to the nose. So it was better to end it,” The Guardian quoted the athlete as saying.
Earlier, in 2023, the International Boxing Association (IBA) disqualified Iman Helif and Lin Yu-ting from Taiwan because, according to IBA President Umar Kremlin, DNA tests proved that both athletes have XY chromosomes.
At the same time, the International Olympic Committee insists that both Khelif and Lin are “women with passports” and, like all the participants in the tournament, meet all the necessary criteria for participation.
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni commented on the situation: “I believe that athletes with male genetic characteristics should not be allowed to participate in women’s competitions. And not because you want to discriminate against anyone, but to protect the right of female athletes to compete on equal terms,” she said.
The Algerian Olympic Committee, meanwhile, stated that it “strongly condemns the unethical actions and slander of our respected athlete Iman Khelif through baseless propaganda by some foreign media.”
