Within the first minute of her one-sided bout at the Paris Olympics 2024, Imane Khelif of Algeria garnered the undivided attention of political bigwigs, celebrities and the entire sports fraternity on Thursday. Reason? Khelif's first significant punch of the bout forced Italian boxer Angela Carini to walk out of the women's 66kg category pre-quarter-finals. Carini copped a heavy blow to her face inside the first 30 seconds of the bout and summoned her coach to fix the headgear. When Carini approached her coach for the second time, the Italian decided she had enough.

Carini had blood on her shorts as the Italian boxer struggled to carry on because of a suspected broken nose. Even Carini recounted that her nose started dripping with blood from the first hit as she broke down in tears while speaking to reporters. It could have been the match of a lifetime, but the Italian had to preserve her life as well at that moment. The female pugilist feared for her life during the short yet brutal fight against a boxer, who failed a gender test in the lead-up to the Paris Olympics.

Why boxers allowed to compete at Paris Games after failed sex tests?

The arrival of two boxers at the Paris Games, disqualified from 2023 World Champion­ships, had reignited the debate over whether athletes with Differences of Sexual Development (DSD) should ply their trade in women's competition. Though Khelif and Taiwan's Lin Yu-ting were disqualified from the World Championships in New Delhi, the duo was allowed to box in the women's competition at the Paris Olympics. But why?

Female passport = female at Paris Olympics

Days before the gender row exploded at the Paris Games, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) supported the two boxers over their right to compete in women’s boxing despite the verdict about failing gender eligibility tests. Speaking at the news conference organised by the Paris Olympics, IOC spokesperson Mark Adams said that every athlete competing in the women’s category is complying with the competition eligibility rules. “They are women in their passports, and it’s stated that this is the case, that they are female,” Adams said. Thus, female in their passports = female at the Paris Olympics.

Why IOC backing boxers at Paris Olympics who failed gender tests?

Female designation in the passport was the rationale behind the two boxers' participation at the Games after World Championship disqualification. Paris Olympics boxing officials are appointed by the IOC, which uses the rule books based on the applied version at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics. The IOC official feels it would be “invidious and unfair” to talk about the details of individual athletes. “They are eligible by the rules of the federation which was set in 2016, and which worked for Tokyo too. To compete as women, which is what they are. And we fully support that,” Adams said.

How Khelif and Lin punched Paris tickets after disqualification?

Khelif was discarded from the gold-medal bout in New Delhi because of elevated testosterone levels. Lin failed to clear a “biochemical test” at the championships. A youth world champion in 2013, Lin was 28 when she bagged her first world title in 2018. Khelif made it to the quarterfinalist at the Tokyo Olympics, although she lost to Ireland's Kellie Harrington. Lin won the Asian Games title to enter the Paris Games. Khelif won an African qualifying tournament to punch her Paris tickets.

Did you know?

Sports bodies—World Aquatics, World Athletics, and the International Cycling Union—have updated their gender rules since the Tokyo Games; the bodies ban athletes who went through male puberty from participating in women’s competitions. With the track body updating its rules on athletes with differences in sex development (DSD), Caster Semenya, a two-time Olympic 800-meter champion, has not featured in 800-meter events since 2019. 

The 46-second bout between Carini and Khelif fuelled a gender debate in an Olympic edition where boxing had gender parity for the first time - 124 men and 124 women boxers in Paris.

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