IS SHE A MAN OR A WOMAN: Algerian boxer Imane Khelif saga takes centre stage at Paris Olympics

Amid a resounding roar of disapproval from outside the Olympic bubble, the female fighter scheduled to battle Algerian boxer Imane Khelif said she will not give in to fear.

Fear that the Olympic boxing ring could be deadly for the next woman to fight Khelif was flowing in large portions Thursday after female boxer Angela Carini quit 46 seconds into her bout with Khelif, saying, “I’ve never taken a punch like that,” according to the New York Post.

“This is unjust,” Carini called out after taking two punches, one of which dropped her to her knees, according to the Daily Mail.

Khelif has been in the vortex of debate because of a failed gender eligibility test administered last year by the International Boxing Association, whose standards differ from those of the International Olympic Committee.

 

Italian premier Giorgia Meloni said after the fight, “It is a fact that with the levels of testosterone present in the blood of the Algerian athlete the race at the start does not seem fair.”

“This, from my point of view, was not a competition on equal terms,” she said.

But amid the debates over fairness and men fighting women, Hungarian boxer Anna Luca Hamori said she will be happy to beat up a guy come Saturday’s fight with Khelif, if that’s what it takes to win a medal, according to the Post.

“I’m not scared,” Hamori said. “I don’t care about the press story and social media. If she or he is a man, it will be a bigger victory for me if I win.”

Hamori said she is tuning out the escalating condemnation of Khelif that dwells on the potential dangers she faces.

“I’m trying to not use my phone before the fight,” Hamori said. “I don’t want to care about the comments or the story or the news. I just want to stay focused on myself. I did it before my last two fights, so I think this is the key, and we will see.”

Hamori said she was puzzled that Carini quit.

“It was her choice,” Hamori said. “I don’t understand, because I thought every boxer’s mind is the same like mine, to never give up. But it was her choice. We don’t know what was the reason. It’s her life, but I know I want to do this in my own life.”

The Olympics have pushed back against critics of allowing Khelif to fight women.

“We have seen in reports misleading information about two female athletes competing at the Olympic Games Paris 2024. The two athletes have been competing in international boxing competitions for many years in the women’s category, including the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020, International Boxing Association (IBA) World Championships and IBA-sanctioned tournaments,” a news release on the website of the International Olympic committee said.

“These two athletes were the victims of a sudden and arbitrary decision by the IBA. Towards the end of the IBA World Championships in 2023, they were suddenly disqualified without any due process,” the release said.

Politico reported that Khelif is a genetic anomaly.

“Nor is Khelif transgender. Unusually, she is reported to have XY sex chromosomes — most women have XX sex chromosomes — but Khelif was born female,” the outlet wrote.