Italian Angela Carini, 25, quit her bout against Imane Khelif yesterday sparking outrage in the boxing and wider community.
As we've seen, Angela Carini was forced to abandon the fight after just 46 seconds, leaving many to wonder if she knew the danger she was in. But let's not forget, this is a woman who has dedicated her life to the sport, and her #Olympics2024 #IStandWithAngelaCarini pic.twitter.com/CCN0s3QA5Z
— Picks & Vidz (@Picksvidz) August 1, 2024
Carini was clearly upset afterwards in the ring and snubbed a handshake with Khelif, who had been disqualified hours before her gold medal bout at the women’s World Championships in New Delhi last year after she failed to meet the International Boxing Association’s (IBA) eligibility criteria.
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But, In a statement on Thursday, the IOC accused the IBA of disqualifying Khelif “without any due process” by the IBA’s Secretary General and CEO.
The statement in full:
‘Every person has the right to practise sport without discrimination.
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 set by the Paris 2024 Boxing Unit (PBU).
As with previous Olympic boxing competitions, the gender and age of the athletes are based on their passport.
These rules also applied during the qualification period, including the boxing tournaments of the 2023 European Games, Asian Games, Pan American Games and Pacific Games, the ad hoc 2023 African qualifying tournament in Dakar (SEN) and two world qualifying tournaments held in Busto Arsizio (ITA) and Bangkok (THA) in 2024, which involved a total of 1,471 different boxers from 172 National Olympic Committees (NOCs), the Boxing Refugee Team and Individual Neutral Athletes, and featured over 2,000 qualification bouts.
The PBU used the Tokyo 2020 boxing rules as a baseline to develop its regulations for Paris 2024. This was to minimise the impact on athletes’ preparations and guarantee consistency between Olympic Games. These Tokyo 2020 rules were based on the post-Rio 2016 rules, which were in place before the suspension of the boxing International Federation by the IOC in 2019 and the subsequent withdrawal of its recognition in 2023.
We have seen in reports misleading information about two female athletes competing at the Olympic Games Paris 2024. The two athletes have been competing in international boxing competitions for many years in the women’s category, including the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020, International Boxing Association (IBA) World Championships and IBA-sanctioned tournaments.
These two athletes were the victims of a sudden and arbitrary decision by the IBA. Towards the end of the IBA World Championships in 2023, they were suddenly disqualified without any due process.
According to the IBA minutes available on their website, this decision was initially taken solely by the IBA Secretary General and CEO. The IBA Board only ratified it afterwards and only subsequently requested that a procedure to follow in similar cases in the future be established and reflected in the IBA Regulations. The minutes also say that the IBA should “establish a clear procedure on gender testing”.
The current aggression against these two athletes is based entirely on this arbitrary decision, which was taken without any proper procedure – especially considering that these athletes had been competing in top-level competition for many years.
Such an approach is contrary to good governance.
Eligibility rules should not be changed during ongoing competition, and any rule change must follow appropriate processes and should be based on scientific evidence.
The IOC is committed to protecting the human rights of all athletes participating in the Olympic Games as per the Olympic Charter, the IOC Code of Ethics and the IOC Strategic Framework on Human Rights. The IOC is saddened by the abuse that the two athletes are currently receiving.
The IBA’s recognition was withdrawn by the IOC in 2023 following its suspension in 2019. The withdrawal of recognition was confirmed by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).
The IOC has made it clear that it needs National Boxing Federations to reach a consensus around a new International Federation in order for boxing to be included on the sports programme of the Olympic Games LA28.
It’s all well and good with the Olympics C-O-E saying that no real evidence was given in prior disqualification. How can they take a passport as validity of gender?
There’s two ways of sorting this once and for all, Doctors report of signs of operation in the genital area. The discovery of “MEAT AND TWO VEG!” Or a blood test that rules in every other sport on the planet!
This isn’t rocket science and dodging the obvious is a disgrace for fair play in women’s sport, especially the pinnacle of sport, the Olympics!
Khelif was born a woman, with a uterus, womb, and female genitalia – non of the ‘meat and two veg’ you’re going on about. Women have differing levels of testosterone in their bodies naturally, doesn’t make her any less eligible to fight in the women’s ring, and she is biologically female.
You are very ignorant if you don’t undo the difference between DSD and transgender. Your comments are puerile and stupid.
I chose to not watch or support any further Olympic events until they get this sorted out.
In the majority of reputable sporting organizations a man or woman athlete gets disqualified if they take performance enhancing drugs.
Testosterone is one of those said drugs.
My guess is this Imane guy (gal) has the Testosterone levels of a man.
(She) either took testosterone or (she) is a he.
It’s pretty simple.
Second point – I believe women are very capable of performing at every level of athletics.
I feel pretty certain any woman who is the best in the world in her field could outperform me…
But there is NO single event I can think of that the top performing woman could beat the top performing man in any field where strength was the competing factor.
It’s against God’s design.
She’s female with a rare birth disorder, where she has a rare condition where she has XY (Male) Chromosomes and high amounts of Testosterone but she still has a female body, womb, uterus, vagina etc. She hasn’t taken any Testosterone and isn’t transgender, she’s got a very rare condition which makes her much stronger than most women.
Have two doctors examine the individual to find out the gender if a transgender withdraw the medal from him and remember a transgender is a man.
Lhelif was born female – with a womb, uterus, and all the female genitalia – all her birth documents, passport etc verify this as does the internet if you did any research before commenting this.