Italian boxer Angela Carini was boxing Algerian boxer, Imane Khelif, in a 66 kg category match at the Paris Olympics 2024 when she pulled out of the fight in 46 seconds. Carini broke down as soon as their bout ended and refused to take Khelif’s hand. “I put an end to the match because after the second blow. I felt a strong pain in my nose”, she told the reporters. “I have never been hit so hard in my life”.
“I’m used to suffering. I’ve never taken a punch like that, it’s impossible to continue. I’m nobody to say it’s illegal”, she said reported New York Post. Soon after, a controversy emerged. The one that labeled Khelif a biological man and a transgender.
As it often happens on the Internet, people were furious and misinformed again. Scores of social media users channelized their inner transphobia and misogyny in the form of ‘hot-takes’ online. Reason? A woman was too strong at her sport, too “manly”. The fact that the boxer doesn’t fit society’s conventionally feminine understanding of a woman re-iterated their prejudice. So, they went on to write in length about how the entire match was blasphemy and how Khelif’s existence at the Olympics is questionable.
But the truth is, Khelif was born a biological female and identifies as a woman. Therefore, the reports claiming that she’s a man are not only outrageous but also disrespectful. “The Algerian boxer was born female, was registered female, lived her life as a female, has a female passport,” clarified the International Olympic Committee (IOC). But, like facts have ever done anything.
Now, let us put things into perspective here. In the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, Khelif was defeated by an Irish boxer Kellie Herrington. So, it’s not like she hasn’t been defeated before. In the Women’s World Championships last year, Imane and Taiwan’s Lin Yu-ting were abruptly disqualified by the International Boxing Association (IBA) after failing the eligibility criteria for participation over “elevated levels of testosterone”. It was concluded that their DNA was that of a male consisting of XY chromosomes.
However, the reliability of this ‘criteria’ remains questionable because its details were never revealed. They were “unspecified and untransparent”. After the gender row at the Olympics, the IBA said the two boxers “did not undergo a testosterone examination but were subject to a separate and recognized test, whereby the specifics remain confidential”, reports BBC. In addition to this, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) stopped recognizing IBA in 2019 over governance-related issues.
Khelif’s Italian opponent Carini has also now come out in support and said she wants to apologize for how she handled the moments after their match ended. “All this controversy makes me sad. I’m sorry for my opponent too. If the IOC said she could fight, I respect that decision. It wasn’t something I intended to do. Actually, I want to apologize to her and everyone else. I was angry because my Olympics had gone up in smoke”, she reportedly said.
So basically, a biological female faced the brunt of a misleading narrative because she was too good at her sport. It’s almost like if a woman’s too strong, she gotta be a man because people won’t see her as she is. Suspicions against her inclusion at the Olympics sprung as soon as she won the match. Even influential figures like Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, J.K. Rowling, Elon Musk, and former US President Donald Trump remarked against her inclusion, and for what?
Perhaps because it’s so easy to hate a woman, to dismiss her achievements, to take away from her glory. In the same Paris Olympics, there’s also a convicted child rapist, Dutch beach volleyball player Steven van de Velde, who recently got knocked out by Brazil. Look at the difference in treatment. People would rather question a woman’s existence for no reason at all than question a convicted male rapist’s inclusion in the game. We didn’t hear about him as much because we were too busy questioning Khelif’s right to be at the Olympics.
The world owes an apology to Khelif. As for her, she has finally spoken, and it’s heartbreaking. Breaking her silence on the controversy, she said in Arabic, “I send a message to all the people of the world to uphold the Olympic principles and the Olympic Charter to refrain from bullying all athletes, because this has effects, massive effects. It can destroy people, it can kill people’s thoughts, spirits, and minds. It can divide people. And because of that, I ask them to refrain from bullying”, reported the Associated Press.
