Paris 2024 Olympics: Italy’s Meloni, IOC’s Bach discuss ‘fairness’ in sports after boxing gender row

Italy’s Angela Carini stepped out after she sustained a series of crushing blows from her Algerian opponent Imane Khelif, who last year failed a gender eligibility test at the World Championships.

Imane Khelif of Algeria and Angela Carini of Italy react after their fight. | Photo Credit: REUTERS

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni raised the issue of a gender row in boxing with International Olympic Committee (IOC) chief Thomas Bach after Italian boxer Angela Carini pulled out of the Paris 2024 Olympics mid-fight on Thursday.

Carini stepped out after she sustained a series of crushing blows from her Algerian opponent Imane Khelif, who last year failed a gender eligibility test at the World Championships.

Meloni said on Thursday that Carini’s bout against Khelif was not a fight among equals.

“During the face-to-face meeting (with Bach), the case of athlete Imane Khelif and the issue of rules to ensure fairness in sports competitions were also addressed,” Meloni’s office said, adding that the Italian government and the IOC would remain in contact over how to deal with the matter in the future.

Italy will host the 2026 Winter Games.

Khelif and Taiwan’s double world champion Lin Yu-ting were cleared to fight in Paris after the IOC last year stripped the International Boxing Association (IBA) of its status as boxing’s governing body over governance issues, and took charge of the Paris 2024 boxing competition.

Both had been disqualified at the 2023 World Championships after failing IBA eligibility rules that prevent athletes with male XY chromosomes competing in women’s events.

Differences of Sexual Disorder are a group of rare conditions involving genes, hormones and reproductive organs. Some people with DSDs are raised as female but have XY sex chromosomes and blood testosterone levels in the male range.

‘MINEFIELD’

The IOC has said the IBA’s decision to disqualify the boxers last year was arbitrary and the main cause for the furore that has seen people like British author J. K. Rowling and billionaire Elon Musk voice their opposition to them competing in the Games.

“The Algerian (boxer) was born female, registered as female, boxed as a female, and is a female on her passport. Scientifically this is not a man fighting a woman,” IOC spokesperson Mark Adams told a news conference on Friday.

“There is an awful lot of abuse and misinformed abuse going on online, we are in very close contact with the athletes (Khelif and Yu-ting) and their entourage,” he said.

Some sports have limited the levels of testosterone allowed for athletes competing in women’s competition, while others ban everyone who has been through male puberty. “This is a minefield and as with all minefields, we want a simple explanation. That explanation does not exist,” Adams said. “If we can get to a consensus, we would be happy to implement that,” he said.

Meanwhile, Taiwan’s presidential office and former president on Friday expressed support for Lin, who has a match at 15:30 local time.

Pan Men-an, secretary-general for Taiwan’s presidential office, said on Facebook he supported Lin and that it was wrong for her to be “subjected to humiliation, insults and verbal bullying just because of your appearance and a controversial verdict in the past.