What’s going on with Olympic women’s boxing, you ask? Who is Imane Khelif? Who is Angela Carini? And how, exactly, is J.K. Rowling involved? Let us explain.
PARIS, FRANCE – AUGUST 01: Imane Khelif of Team Algeria punches Angela Carini of Team Italy during the Women’s. 66kg preliminary round match on day six of the Olympic Games Paris 2024 at North Paris Arena on August 01, 2024 in Paris, France. (Photo by Richard Pelham/Getty Images)Richard Pelham/Getty Images
Who is Imane Khelif?
Khelif, 25, is a boxer from Algeria, who competed in her first Olympics in 2020 in Tokyo. She was assigned female at birth, and is labeled female on her passport, but she was disqualified from the world championships in 2023 by the International Boxing Association (IBA), who cited high levels of testosterone in her system, per the Associated Press. However, the International Olympic Committee (IOC), has stated that the IBA’s decision was “arbitrary.”
Who is Angela Carini?
Carini is an Italian female boxer, also 25, and was Khelif’s opponent during a match at the 2024 Olympics.
What happened at the Olympics?
Carini withdrew from the match after a single punch from Khelif. Their match lasted just 46 seconds. “I went to the ring to honor my father. I was told a lot of times that I was a warrior but I preferred to stop for my health. I have never felt a punch like this,” Carini told reporters after the match, per New York Times.
Where does the controversy come in?
J.K. Rowling and Elon Musk are two people who implied that the Olympic women’s boxing match was unfair, claiming that Khelif is a biological male. “Could any picture sum up our new men’s rights movement better?” wrote Rowling on Twitter. Musk, per Variety, shared another person’s post that stated, “men don’t belong in women’s sports.” The basis for claims like these appear to be the IBA’s 2023 decision to bar Khelif from the world championships. The IBA had also disqualified Taiwanese boxer Lin Yu-ting on similar grounds.
The IOC has reaffirmed that Khelif was assigned female at birth, and stated, per NPR, “The current aggression against these two athletes is based entirely on this arbitrary decision [by the IBA], which was taken without any proper procedure—especially considering that these athletes had been competing in top-level competition for many years.”
