Angela Carini wins title months after Olympic withdrawal against Imane Khelif, who failed sex eligibility test

Boxer Angela Carini won her eighth Italian women’s title Sunday, marking a comeback after withdrawing against a controversial opponent at the Paris Olympics. 

“Tonight was my revenge,” Carini told reporters after the match, via The Telegraph, months after she was beaten in the face in front of a global audience by an athlete whose birth gender has been questioned.

Carini, 26, withdrew from her bout against Algeria’s Imane Khelif in Paris after several powerful blows to the head. Khelif’s inclusion at the Olympics was the biggest controversy of the Paris games after the Algerian had failed gender eligibility tests to compete in other international women’s boxing events. 

Khelif was disqualified from the 2023 International Boxing Association (IBA) World Championships, and IBA President Umar Kremlev said the boxer had “XY chromosomes,” which are associated with biological males. 

Carini abandoned her match against Khelif after just 46 seconds.

“I got into the ring to fight,” Carini said in Paris, via Italy’s ANSA. “I didn’t give up, but one punch hurt too much. And, so, I said ‘enough.'”

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Carini previously told reporters her objective in the Olympics was to win a medal for her late father.

Khelif won gold in Paris and wasn’t the only boxer to win a women’s gold who has been disqualified for failing gender eligibility tests. Taiwan’s Lin Yu-ting also won gold in another women’s weight class in Paris, prompting similar outrage. 

The International Olympics Committee (IOC) defended Khelif and Yu-ting’s inclusion in the women’s events until the very end. 

Khelif later filed a lawsuit against multiple people, including Elon Musk and J.K. Rowling, who criticized the athlete and the IOC for the inclusion, alleging sex-based “acts of aggravated cyber harassment.” 

Khelif threatened another lawsuit in November against a French journalist over a report that alleged the boxer had testicles.

“We will meet with the French journalist in court,” the Algerian athlete said via NDTV.

Carini previously said she wanted to “apologize” to Khelif for the withdrawal that brought negative attention to the Algerian. 

“All this controversy makes me sad,” Carini said, via the BBC. “I’m sorry for my opponent, too. If the IOC said she can fight, I respect that decision.”

Carini gave Khelif the cold shoulder after the fight and said she regretted it.

“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.”

Still, Carini felt that some sense of “revenge” was fulfilled Sunday. 

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