Angela Carini, the Italian boxer who walked out of her 2024 Paris Olympic fight against Team Algeria’s Imane Khelif after just 46 seconds, said that she wanted to apologize. Angela went from refusing to shake Imane’s hand in the ring to stating how “sad” she felt over the intrusive gender misinformation surrounding her opponent.
Highlights
- Angela Carini walked out of her 2024 Paris Olympic fight against Imane Khelif after 46 seconds.
- Angela expressed regret over the gender controversy surrounding Imane and apologized for not shaking hands.
- The IOC confirmed that Imane complies with entry regulations and condemned misinformation about her.
- The IBA previously disqualified Imane for elevated testosterone levels, a decision criticized by the IOC.
- Imane, a cisgender woman, faced notable transphobic backlash but was supported by the IOC to compete.
"All this controversy makes me sad," the 25-year-old athlete told Italian newspaper Gazzetta dello Sport, as per the BBC on Friday (August 2).
Angela continued: "I'm sorry for my opponent, too. If the IOC said she can fight, I respect that decision."
The IOC is the International Olympic Committee.
Angela Carini is an Italian boxer who walked out of her 2024 Paris Olympic fight against Team Algeria’s Imane Khelif
Image credits: angela.carini_tiger
The Italian boxer further said that abandoning the fight had been a mature step to take, but she expressed regret at not shaking hands with Imane afterward.
"It wasn't something I intended to do," Angela said. "Actually, I want to apologize to her and everyone else. I was angry because my Olympics had gone up in smoke."
The athlete reportedly added that if she met Imane again, she would "embrace her."
Image credits: Eurosport
The new elucidation follows the dangerous misinformation that has been circulating about the athlete amid Angela Carini abandoning facing Imane just 46 seconds into their fight.
“Every person has the right to practice sport without discrimination,” the Olympic committee asserted in an official statement released on Thursday (August 1).
Misinformation about Imane's gender identity quickly spread and was consequently used on social media by notable transphobic figures, like J.K. Rowling, following the fight that took place on Thursday.
Attention was particularly given to the International Boxing Association (IBA)'s previous disqualification of Imane due to "elevated testosterone."
Angela walked out of her fight after just 46 seconds
Image credits: Eurosport
Nevertheless, the IOC clarified that the IBA's decision was sudden and lacked proper procedure. Moreover, the IOC suspended the IBA in 2019 due to concerns about governance, corruption, and financial mismanagement.
Controversy erupted on Thursday after Italy’s Angela Carini quit just 46 seconds into her round-of-16 bout with Imane after the Algerian landed the first clean punch of the fight.
Angela immediately turned to her team and opted against continuing, and the Italian soon collapsed to her knees in tears.
Angela could reportedly be heard telling her coach, “It’s not right, it’s not right,” and she later told reporters that she had never been hit so hard in her career.
Image credits: Eurosport
Angela subsequently refused to shake Imane’s hand after she was announced as the winner in Paris.
In the wake of the fight quickly turning viral on social media, with notable transphobic figures also commenting on the situation, the IOC also defended Taiwan’s Lin Yu-ting.
Imane and Lin were both cleared to compete in women’s boxing at the Paris Olympics but faced bigoted backlash after being stripped of titles and disqualified from the IBA.
The IBA stripped Lin of her World Championships bronze medal in the March 2023 event after failing a gender eligibility test, and it also disqualified Imane in New Delhi for failing a testosterone level test.
At the time of forfeiting the fight, Angela claimed unfairness. She has now said she wants to apologize to Imane
Image credits: DD_Geopolitics
No further details were given on why the boxers were disqualified from last year’s World Championships.
Both athletes competed at the delayed Olympic Games in Tokyo in 2021, and Lin is a two-time winner at the Asian Women’s Amateur Boxing Championships.
"The current aggression against these two athletes is based entirely on this arbitrary decision, which was taken without any proper procedure – especially considering that these athletes had been competing in top-level competition for many years," the IOC said in their statement.
The IOC further stated it was “saddened by the abuse that the two athletes are currently receiving.”
Imane was born a biological female and has never identified as anything other than a cisgender woman.
Image credits: Eurosport
She grew up in a rural village in Tiaret in western Algeria, where she was introduced to boxing after being forced to defend herself against boys picking fights with her, UNICEF reported in March 2024.
The athlete struggled financially, and training for boxing came as a challenge, as she was unable to ask her father, who, besides being away working in the Sahara desert as a welder, did not approve of boxing for girls, UNICEF wrote.
Upon being honored as a UNICEF national ambassador, Imane stated: “I am deeply honored to be an ambassador for UNICEF.
“My message to young people is to follow your dreams.
“Don’t let obstacles come in your way, resist any obstacles and overcome them.”