"I Want To Apologise To Her": Angela Carini To Imane Khelif Amid Olympics Gender Row
Breaking her silence, Italian boxer Angela Carini addressed the gender controversy that has taken over Paris Olympics 2024 in the past day. Carini, who lost to Algerian boxer Imane Khelif within 46 seconds, told Italian media on Friday that she wanted to “apologise” to her opponent for not shaking her hand after the match.
Soon after the controversial match ended, Carini broke down following her defeat and gave an emotional interview. Addressing the incident, the Italian boxer clarified that she was angry because of her defeat and not because of Khelif.
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“All the controversy made me sad and I’m sorry for my opponent too. It’s nothing to do with her. She was here like me to fight. It wasn’t on purpose, and I apologise to her and everyone,” said Carini, referring to her behaviour after the defeat. The Italian boxer had ignored Khelif’s attempt to shake her hand at the end of the match.
“I was angry because my Olympics had just gone up in smoke but I’ve nothing against Imane Khelif. On the contrary, if I saw her again, I’d give her a hug,” she added.
A gender row erupted after Khelif, who was disqualified by the International Boxing Association (IBA) after she failed to pass the ‘gender test’ in 2023, won the match, knocking out Carini.
Meanwhile, Khelif’s next opponent, Hungarian boxer Anna Luca Hamori, said, “In my humble opinion I don’t think it’s fair that this contestant can compete in the women’s category. But I cannot concern myself with that now, I cannot change it, it’s life.”
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Misinformation about Khelif being trans, having XY chromosomes or higher levels of testosterone soon started spreading. Khelif, a cisgender woman, has never identified as a transgender or intersex. But none of that stopped social media from launching a horrific attack on the Algerian boxer.
Anti-trans sentiments soon sprung up on social media, with many high-profile figures such as JK Rowling, Elon Musk, Donald Trump, and Republican party leaders calling Khelif a ‘biological man,’ mocking her achievements and discrediting her victory.
Notably, the methodology and Khelif’s results of the IBA’s ‘gender test’ have never been made public. Khelif’s disqualification came mid-tournament, three days after she defeated Russian boxer Azalia Amineva in the 2023 tournament. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) overturned IBA’s decision and cut ties with the Russian-run organisation, banning it in 2019, over concerns of corruption.
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Dismissing the questions raised on Khelif’s gender identity, IOC spokesperson Mark Adams said, “The Algerian boxer was born female, was registered female, lived her life as a female, boxed as a female, has a female passport.”
IBA’s Russian president Umar Kremlev announced on Friday that the organisation will offer Carini $100,000, which is the prize money it provides to gold medallists at the Olympics. The money will be divided between the boxer, her trainer, and the federation.
