Angela Carini was reduced to tears as she stopped her controversial fight with Imane Khelif at the Paris Olympics.
Italian boxer Carini took a couple of punches from her Algerian rival – who failed a gender eligibility test in 2013 – before choosing to end the bout after just 46 seconds.
She signalled to her corner to stop the preliminary round of 16 fight, and fell to her knees in floods of tears as her Olympic dream was left in tatters.
Carini revealed afterwards that she had decided to pull out having being hit harder than she had ever been hit before.
Her opponent Khelif is one of two fighters, along with Lin Yu‑ting of Taiwan, cleared by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to compete in women’s boxing in Paris.
This is despite International Boxing Association (IBA) president, Umar Kremlev, saying DNA tests had ‘proved they had XY chromosomes and were thus excluded’ from competing at the Women’s World Boxing Championship in India last year.
The IBA, which does not run Olympic boxing, said it had made the decision ‘following a comprehensive review and was intended to uphold the fairness and integrity of the competition’.
In highly-charged scenes at the North Paris Arena in Paris on Thursday, Carini had returned to the centre of the ring as the final decision was read out and her fate was confirmed.
She snubbed a handshake from Khelif, before yelling ‘this is unjust’ in a furious and frustrated outburst.
The 25-year-old was extremely emotional and climbed out of the ring, with her team quickly comforting her and ushering her back to the dressing room.
In her post-fight interview, she said: “It hurt so much. I am heartbroken. I went to the ring to honour my father.
“I was told a lot of times that I was a warrior, but I preferred to stop for my health. I have never felt a punch like this.
“I said ‘enough’ because I didn’t want to… I couldn’t carry on in the match. I thought maybe it was better that I brought an end to the match.
“I went to my corner and raised my hand and said I’d had enough because my nose hurt so much.
“I’ve always gone into the ring with honour, I’ve always fought for my country, loyally, but this time I couldn’t as I wasn’t able to fight anymore.”
She later insisted that it was not a protest, but simply putting the decision in the Olympics’ court.
Carini was taken away from the ring and taken for medical assessment, to examine the severity of her injuries which included a damaged nose.
Khelif has since broken her silence since the fight on social media, simply writing: “Elhamdolilah. First Victory.”
Her rival Khelif had been thrown out of last year’s World Championships after failing testosterone tests to classify genders for boxing competition.
But she was this year admitted to the Olympics by the IOC, and cleared to compete in the women’s category.
There had been outrage from some big names in the boxing world including Ebanie Bridges, who had hit out at the decision in a furious rant.
Female heavyweight world champion Claressa Shields and trainer Barry McGuigan had also expressed their opposition to the inclusion of Khelif.
But the governing body released a statement clarifying their position, which read: “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 in accordance with rules 1.4 and 3.1 of the Paris 2024 Boxing Unit.
“The PBU endeavoured to restrict amendments to minimise the impact on athletes’ preparation and guaranteeing consistency between Olympic Games.”
It is unclear if any action will be taken by the IOC with regards to the events that unfolded in Paris.
On X, former women’s bantamweight champion Bridges, let rip when it was confirmed Khelif and Yu-ting would compete, calling it ‘f***ing sickening’.
“It’s f***ing disgusting that the Olympic committee would let these guys/girls who still look like men compete against women.
“And these biological men who want to compete in women’s boxing must be sadists or something because any man knows how much stronger they are than females and it’s also why a man hitting a women is so bad. The biological difference IS REAL. What the f***? Honestly unbelievable and sick.
“Whomever on the committee agreed to this clearly doesn’t f***ing box or isn’t a female who’s been hit full strength by a male same weight to feel the noticeable difference.
“I feel so sorry for the biological born women who have worked so hard to get to this point in there career to then have to compete against a trans who literally was disqualified for being a man. Like, wtf has this world come to? This ain’t about breaking records it’s about breaking skulls.”
Khelif will progress to the next round where she will wait to discover who she will face in the quarter-final.
For the Italian, it was Olympic heartache that she felt was beyond her control, with her native officials already having complained about the bout beforehand.
The rules have been brought into sharp focus, and there will no doubt be even more intense scrutiny on the situation following the scenes in the squared circle.
In its 130-year history the IOC has never banned an international governing body from running a sport but that all changed in June 2023 when the IBA was stripped of its status as the sport’s world governing body, which took its appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
The IOC’s executive board had recommended the move after the IBA failed to meet set reforms following its 2019 suspension over governance issues and alleged corruption.
CAS said the IBA had not made enough change in financial transparency, integrity of officials and its culture.
Boxing at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics was subsequently organised by the IOC but it has no plans to oversee boxing at the Los Angeles Games in 2028.
The sport is not currently on the programme for LA, but World Boxing, which was only founded in 2023 to try and replace the IBA, wants to be recognised boxing can take place in four years.
Taiwan’s Lin Yu-ting is the other fighter in Paris who also had questions raised about her eligibility for the Games.
She faces Sitora Turdibekova in the women’s 57kg category on Friday.
