Featured Image Credit: Richard Pelham/Stephen McCarthy/Sportsfile/Getty Images
Topics: Boxing, Olympics, Sport, Imane Khelif
Callum Jones
Topics: Boxing, Olympics, Sport, Imane Khelif
A women's featherweight world champion, who has fought the Olympian boxer making all the headlines right now, has spoken out.
Algeria's Imane Khelif's fight against Italian boxer Angela Carini at the Olympics on Thursday (1 August) has been a huge talking point across the world.
After just a few punches and 46 seconds of action, Carini abandoned the welterweight 16 round bout altogether.
The Italian boxer even refused to shake Khelif's hand and appeared to get emotional in the ring before she left.
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She explained in a later interview that she 'didn't succeed' because she simply 'couldn't fight anymore'.
Khelif was disqualified from the boxing world championships last year after she failed a gender eligibility test due to what the International Boxing Association claimed were elevated levels of testosterone.
Reuters lifted the lid on the situation, reporting Khelif failed due to IBA eligibility rules preventing athletes with XY chromosomes from competing in women’s events.
The International Olympic Committee has different rules for the games, however, and have reaffirmed Khelif is eligible to take part in the Olympics.
"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," he added.
Khelif has always competed in the women's division in boxing and is recognized by the IOC as a female athlete.
Featherweight world champion Skye Nicolson has come out and defended Khelif and fellow boxer Lin Yu-Ting.
Nicolson revealed in a video posted to her Instagram Story that she has fought and sparred with both of them.
The boxer has reaffirmed that both Khelif and Yu-Ting were born female, and has hit out at those criticising the pair.
She said: "I just want to clarify a couple of things: 1. I've actually fought and sparred both of the girls. They were born female.
"They were born with an XY chromosome, which is the male chromosome, but they were born with female bodies. They have the physical attributes of a female."
She added: "They have grown up as girls, as females, as women. They have competed as women the whole time.
"These are not naturally born men who have decided to call themselves women or identify as women to fight women in the Olympics."
In the wake of the controversial fight, the Olympic Committee has issued a lengthy response to all the noise.