Topics: Boxing, Olympics, Imane Khelif
The Olympic boxer that is making all the headlines right now after her controversial 46 second bout is not untouchable.
And the fighter who previously beat Imane Khelif spoke out prior to the latter's victory against Angela Carini in Paris.
The Olympic fight was very much short-lived as the pair only exchanged a few punches before Carini abandoned the fight altogether less than a minute in.
Carini's headgear appeared to become dislodged twice before she called it quits, and things weren't much better afterwards.
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Remarkably, the Italian even refused to shake Khelif's hand after she was announced as winner in Paris.
There has been a lot of talk surrounding Khelif's involvement in the Olympics as a result of her disqualification from the World Championships in 2023 due to the failure of an unspecified gender eligibility test.
After her display on Thursday (1 August), you'd certainly be within your right to think Khelif has never lost a bout.
However, that is far from the case, and one boxer who has beaten Olympian in the past is Amy Broadhurst.
The British fighter beat the Algerian in 2022, and she recently gave her take on the situation in Paris.
She wrote on Twitter: "Have a lot of people texting me over Imane Khelif. Personally I don’t think she has done anything to ‘cheat’.
"I thinks it’s the way she was born & that’s out of her control. The fact that she has been [beaten] by 9 females before says it all."
Broadhurst was the 2022 IBA World Light-welterweight champion and had hoped to be at the Paris Olympics.
But after being selected for Team GB, she got knocked out in the qualifying rounds.
As for Khelif, the International Boxing Association claimed she had elevated levels of testosterone at the time of her disqualification last year.
The athlete failed due to the IBA eligibility rules preventing athletes with XY chromosomes from competing in women’s events, according to a report by Reuters.
But with the Olympics run by the International Olympic Committee (IOC), a different set of rules apply.
Prior to the Paris games they ultimately ruled Khelif eligible to compete.
The sporting body came out on Tuesday (30 July) to defend Khelif's rights to compete.
"Everyone competing in the women's category is complying with the competition eligibility rules," IOC spokesperson Mark Adams said.
"They are women in their passports, and it's stated that this is the case that they are female."
