Italian Boxer Angela Carina Apologizes To Imane Khelif—But For What?

Angela Carini trained for years to be in the Olympics.

The Italian native's opponent at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games was Imane Khelif of Algeria, who would soon become the center of controversy following their match.

Previously, Umar Kremlev, the president of the International Boxing Association (IBA), announced that two boxers had been disqualified from the Women's Boxing World Championship after tests uncovered that they possessed “XY chromosomes” and thus were excluded from competing as women. Khelif was one of them.

Reports argue that Khelif was born a female and has never come out as transgender, despite much speculation. Nevertheless, the testing revealed that Khelif has XY chromosomes and would naturally have an advantage over female opponents with XX chromosomes.

Carini and Khelif's fight lasted 46 seconds. Carini abandoned the match, stating she had “never been hit so hard in my life." She added that it would be up to the "IOC to judge" whether or not the fight was fair.

“I had entered the ring to fight,” Carini said. “I didn’t give up, but a punch hurt too much and so I said enough. I go out with my head held high.”

Her coach, Emanuel Renzini, said some warned Carini not to take the fight due to concerns about Khelif being a biological man. “I don’t know if her nose is broken. I have to speak with the girl. But many people in Italy tried to call and tell her: 'Don’t go please: it’s a man, it’s dangerous for you,'” he said.

Angela Carini Apologizes

It's evident that Carini did nothing to incite hate against her – but she apologized after people attacked her, claiming that she was falsely painting Khelif as a man even though she never said anything of the sort. "All this controversy makes me sad," Carini told the Italian newspaper Gazzetta dello Sport.

"I'm sorry for my opponent, too. If the IOC said she can fight, I respect that decision," she added.

The boxer also regretted not shaking hands with Khelif after the match. "It wasn't something I intended to do," Carini said. "Actually, I want to apologize to her and everyone else. I was angry because my Olympics had gone up in smoke." Carini said that if she ever saw Khelif again, she would "embrace her."

While IOC spokesperson Mark Adams says, "The Algerian boxer was born female, was registered female, lived her life as a female, boxed as a female, the Independent Council on Women’s Sports (ICONS) has condemned the Olympics's inclusion of XY opponents and the International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) decision in 2000 to end sex verification screening."

"The IOC’s decision has caused distrust and confusion in women’s sports ever since," said ICONS co-founder Marshi Smith. She added, "The physical abuse of women on an Olympic stage eliminates the integrity of all Olympic events and risks lifelong injury or even death for female athletes. This deceit cannot be allowed to continue."

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