Algerian boxer Imane Khelif defeated Italy’s Angela Carini in a dramatic match at the 2024 Paris Olympics where Carini quit just 46 seconds into the bout. The Italian boxer, after exchanging only a few punches with Khelif, abruptly quit the fight. She avoided shaking Khelif’s hand and collapsed in tears. This highly unusual occurrence in Olympic boxing sparked widespread attention.
Many people are now interested to know why Carini quit at the Olympics. Here are all the details about what happened during the fight.
Why did the Italian female boxer Angela Carini quit at the Paris Olympics?
Angela Carini, visibly emotional after the match, told reporters that she decided to pull out because she was hit harder than ever before and feared her nose might be broken.
As reported by The Guardian, Carini said, “After the second punch, after years of experience, I felt a strong pain in the nose. I said enough, because I didn’t want. I couldn’t finish the fight after the punch to the nose. So it was better to put an end to it.” Angela Carini added that she is not qualified to decide whether Khelif should have been allowed to compete.
Khelif’s participation had been controversial due to previous allegations that she and another boxer, Lin Yu-ting from Taiwan, failed gender eligibility tests at the 2023 Women’s World Boxing Championships. Last year, Umar Kremlev, the president of the International Boxing Association (IBA), announced that DNA tests confirmed the athletes had XY chromosomes, which resulted in their disqualification. Despite these allegations, Khelif has consistently competed as a woman, including at the Tokyo Olympics.
Several high-profile figures, including Donald Trump, Elon Musk, J.K. Rowling, and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, appear to have voiced their disapproval of Imane Khelif of Algeria participating in women’s sports.
After her victory, Imane Khelif celebrated on Instagram. She shared a photo and captioned it “first Victory,” without addressing the criticism. Khelif had previously attributed her disqualification from the world championships to a “conspiracy.”
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) supported the decision to allow Khelif and Taiwan’s Lin Yu-ting to compete. They asserted that all participants met the necessary eligibility and medical criteria. The spokesperson said, “Everyone competing in the women’s category is complying with the competition eligibility rules. They are women in their passports and it’s stated that this is the case, that they are female.” Both athletes had also competed in the Tokyo Olympics but did not win any medals.
