My colleague Grayson Bakich covered the original controversy surrounding a biological male who failed a gender test at the 2023 World Boxing Championships being allowed to compete in the Olympics as a female.
Algerian boxer Imane Khelif was eligible to fight as a female because the rules under which he was eligible to compete as a woman were formulated in the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.
The confusion is a result of a bureaucratic war between the Russian Federation and the International Olympic Committee (IOC).
The different status of Lin and Khelif at the Olympics and worlds is fallout from the years-long dispute between the IOC and the Russian-led IBA over alleged failures of governance and integrity, plus reliance on funding from state energy firm Gazprom.
The IOC has appointed officials to run boxing at two straight Summer Games and acknowledged Monday the tournament rules for Paris are “descended from” those in place eight years ago at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics.
The officials chosen to run Paris qualifying and finals tournaments tried “to restrict amendments to minimize the impact on athletes’ preparation and guaranteeing consistency between Olympic Games,” the IOC said.
In other words, we don't know what we're doing.
Khelif fought in the 2023 World Championships and was preparing for his gold medal match when officials gave him a gender test. He was found to be carrying elevated levels of testosterone and was disqualified.
But he's A-OK for the Olympics.
So Khelif entered the ring on Wednesday and faced an Italian, Angela Carini. Poor Angela literally never knew what hit her.
And no surprise here. Imane Khelif won the fight. pic.twitter.com/hvOjwN6vDS
— DISASER TRACKER (@DisasterTrackHQ) August 1, 2024
Carini quit after 46 seconds when a man hit her twice.
"I'm used to suffering. I've never taken a punch like that, it's impossible to continue. I'm nobody to say it's illegal," she said. "I got into the ring to fight. But I didn't feel like it anymore after the first minute. I started to feel a strong pain in my nose. I didn't give up, but a punch hurt too much and so I said enough. I'm leaving with my head held high."
The fight between Italy's Angela Carini and her Algerian opponent Imane Khelif took just 46 seconds, with the Italian throwing her helmet onto the floor as the clash was abandoned, yelling: 'This is unjust.'
The 25-year-old refused the handshake and fell to the canvas sobbing having received just two punches from Khelif - who had been banned from a major boxing contest before the Olympics.
Khelif was thrown out of last year's world championships after failing testosterone tests carried out to establish gender qualification.
After the match was stopped, the referee raised Khelif's hand in the air. But a visibly furious Carini yanked her own hand away from the fight official and walked off.
Ignoring the Algerian, the Italian fighter then plunged to her knees and burst into tears as she said she had never felt such strong blows in a contest before.
Algeria, a Muslim country, failed to note that the boxer was competing as a woman in its classless, gloating statement: "Congratulations to the Algerian boxer Iman Khalif, who responds strongly in the ring and qualifies for the quarterfinals, after defeating the Italian Angelina Carini in less than 46 seconds, effortlessly."
Um, the guy beat up a girl who quit. If he hadn't beaten her "effortlessly," we could have questioned the manhood of every Algerian male. Should do that anyway.
Khelif said as he left the ring, "God willing, this was the first victory. God is willing me to the golden one."
The whole world is playing a gigantic game of "pretend." All of these Olympic officials, sports bodies, and governments are pretending that men are women because saying anything contrary to that brings down the wrath of the transgender lobby.
Khelif is not a woman. He's not a woman biologically, medically, or in any other way that would allow him to compete as a woman. The whole world has gone insane, and people like Khelif are laughing all the way to the bank.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member