Imane Khelif Angela Carini fight sparks Olympic gender controversy

The Paris Olympics have been filled with excitement and celebration, but all that came to an ugly halt yesterday, following a boxing match between Algeria’s Imane Khelif and Italy’s Angela Carini. After only 46 seconds the match was over when a sobbing Carini retired to her corner after taking several direct punches to the head saying she had to “preserve her life.”

In a post-match interview, Carini said that the pain she felt from Khelif’s punches robbed her of her will to compete further. Carini also refused to shake Khelif’s hand after the referee declared the Algerian fighter winner.

Source: Anadolu / Getty

Via AP:

“I felt a severe pain in my nose, and with the maturity of a boxer, I said ‘enough,’ because I didn’t want to, I didn’t want to, I couldn’t finish the match,” Carini said.

Although Carini later said that she was not making a political statement by quitting the match or denying Khelif a handshake, the conservative internet trolls immediately began to bash Imane by labeling her a “biological male” who should not be allowed to compete against women. This unfounded assertion is largely based on the fact that Khelif was disqualified from the 2023 world championship because she allegedly failed a “gender eligibility test,” whatever that is.

Gabrielle Union was having absolutely none of it as she took to Twitter to defend Imane and clap back against the right-wing hand-wringing.

Being that it is election season and Republicans like nothing more than a good old-fashioned culture war, Donald Trump and conservative kook Majorie Taylor-Greene jumped into this issue feet first with no shame in sight. Trump took to his Truth Social platform to announce that if he is elected President, “I WILL KEEP MEN OUT OF WOMEN’S SPORTS!”

For her part, MTG posted the following to Twitter:

Mind you, Khelif has always competed in the women’s division and is recognized by the IOC as a female athlete.

“The Algerian boxer was born female, was registered female, lived her life as a female, boxed as a female, has a female passport,” BBC reports that IOC spokesperson Mark Adams said on Friday.

Following the international controversy, Angela Carini later apologized to Khelif.

“I’m sorry for my opponent, too. If the IOC said she can fight, I respect that decision,” she said to told Italian newspaper Gazzetta dello Sport per BBC.

Source: Anadolu / Getty

2024 is doing an incredible job of being one raging dumpster fire after the next. Put the whole year in rice.