A boxer who was previously banned from competing in the world championships because she failed testosterone and gender eligibility tests has won her opening Olympic bout after her opponent quit.
Algeria's Imane Khelif won in just 46 seconds after the Italian Angela Carini quit in the 66kg category.
The pair had only a few punch exchanges before Carini abandoned the bout - an extremely unusual occurrence in Olympic boxing.
🚨#BREAKING: Angela Carini abandons her fight against Imane Khelif who is a biological male just a few minutes into the match at the #OlympicGames pic.twitter.com/bAcn4Dw0vZ
— World Source News 24/7 (@Worldsource24) August 1, 2024
The Italian knelt down and was in floods of tears in the ring after the fight and refused to shake Khelif's hand when the decision was announced.
Afterward, Carini said that she quit because of intense pain in her nose after the opening punches.
Carini, who had a spot of blood on her trunks, said she wasn't making a political statement and was not refusing to fight Khelif.
"I am not here to judge or pass judgment," Carini said. "If an athlete is this way, and in that sense it's not right or it is right, it's not up to me to decide.
"I just did my job as a boxer. I got into the ring and fought. I did it with my head held high and with a broken heart for not having finished the last kilometre," she said.
"I am heartbroken because I am a fighter," Carini added.
"My father taught me to be a warrior. I have always stepped into the ring with honour and I have always [served] my country with loyalty. And this time I couldn't do it because I couldn't fight anymore, and so I ended the match."
Khelif was disqualified hours before her gold medal bout at the world championships in New Delhi last year when she failed to meet the International Boxing Association's (IBA) eligibility criteria.
Algeria's Olympic committee (COA) previously condemned the "baseless" attacks on Khelif.
"COA strongly condemns the unethical targeting and maligning of our esteemed athlete, Imane Khelif, with baseless propaganda from certain foreign media outlets," it said in a statement.
"Such attacks on her personality and dignity are deeply unfair, especially as she prepares for the pinnacle of her career at the Olympics. The COA has taken all necessary measures to protect our champion."
Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni, who was visiting Italy's athletes in the Olympic Village on Thursday, voiced criticism that Carini had to box Khelif.
"We have to pay attention, in an attempt to not discriminate, that we're actually discriminating" against women's rights, Meloni said.
She added that it was strange "that there can be a suspicion, and far more than a suspicion, of an unfair and potentially dangerous contest for one of the contenders at the Olympics, an event that symbolises sporting fairness".
Skysports