It was undoubtedly the biggest controversy of these games and its consequences were dramatic. Olympic boxer Imane Khelif won on Thursday against her opponent Angela Carini, who abandoned her fight in tears after 47 seconds. An abandonment that caused a resounding scandal in Paris. After the hard blow, the Italian threw in the towel and announced her farewell to boxing.
It should be recalled that Khelif was previously disqualified from a women’s world championship for having “XY chromosomes” and now the outrage is such that many female boxers are already considering retiring if the IOC does not reverse its decision to allow her to compete. The Argentine was removed from the 2023 World Boxing Championships for failing a gender test, which determined that she had “competitive advantages over other female competitors.”
“I couldn’t go on. My nose was hurting so much that I said: ‘Stop’. It was better not to go on,” the Italian said afterwards. “It could have been the fight of my life, but at that moment I had to save my life too. I have always fought against men, I train with my brother, but today I felt too much pain,” said Carini about the force of the blows received immediately after the fight.
But The two brutal right hooks from the Algerian not only left wounds on her body but also ended her desire to continue fighting. Broken, though proud of herself, she announces an abandonment that goes beyond the Games. “I say goodbye to boxing,” The Italian says in an interview with the Italian newspaper La Stampa in which she analyzes the reasons why he decided to abandon the fight and say goodbye to the sport.
“I didn’t feel like it anymore…”
“I didn’t feel like fighting anymore after less than a minute. I got hit in the nose and lost my balance, I wasn’t breathing so I said enough,” Carini explained, and expressed that her pain at the end of the fight was due to frustration and physical pain. The Italian said that when she got into the ring she thought about her father and all the efforts that led her to that moment but stressed that she regretted not having greeted her opponent after the fight: “I made a mistake by not greeting her, I left the ring in anger but not towards my opponent.”
“I am a fighter and someone who never stops in the face of pain. With all my determination and stubbornness, I couldn’t keep going. My nose hurts so much. My heart is broken. I am a fighter, my father taught me to be a warrior. I enter the ring with blood in my eyes.” he added.
She was proud of her withdrawal, however: “I am very demoralized. I was a great woman to say no, a great woman. This is not a defeat for me. I did not lose, I simply gave my all with maturity.”
Carini was firm in expressing the personal analysis she made after the fight, but made clear her position to stay out of the controversies regarding boxer Imane Khelif. “I wanted to get everything out of myself, regardless of the person in front of me. Who are we to judge? To say what is right and what is wrong? We are athletes, we are not judges.”he concluded.
Other withdrawals
Her case, however, is not unique. Other athletes have also decided to throw in the towel because of the physical superiority of their opponents. Last year, former champion Hannah Arensman quit cycling after a trans rival stole her place on the podium.
“I have felt deeply angry, disappointed, ignored and humiliated by the fact that legislators for women’s sports do not consider it necessary to protect women’s sport to ensure fair competition for women. My sister and my family They sobbed as they watched a man end up in front of me, after having witnessed several physical interactions with him during the race. It’s not fair,” she said.