Boxer Transgender Controversy At The 2024 Olympics

Imane Khelif, one of two transgender boxers allowed to appear at the 2024 Paris Olympics (Instagram/@imane_khelif_10).

JAKARTA The controversy at the 2024 Paris Olympics has reappeared following the Algerian transgender athlete, Imane Khelif, being allowed to fight in the women's class 66 kilograms.

The 25-year-old boxer recently forced Italian boxer Angela Carini to surrender in just 46 seconds when the two met in the round of 16 on Thursday, August 1, 2024, WIB night.

In that duel, Khelif landed four punches in just 10 seconds at the start of the first round. Several more punches after that made Carini have to approach her coach in the corner of the ring to repair her headguard.

Carini had time to continue the fight afterwards, but could not stop Khelif from landing another hard blow to his face.

The punches made Carini raise her hand and return to the corner of the ring. The coach then signaled that his team had withdrawn from the match.

"I always respect my country with loyalty. This time I didn't succeed because I couldn't fight anymore," Carini said as quoted by Reuters.

"I ended the game because after a second blow and after years of having experience in the ring and living in a fight, I felt great pain in my nose," he said.

Carini revealed that her decision to withdraw from the fight was because she felt that their duel was not competitive at all.

"You all saw my body start to bleed. I am not inferior tonight. I only attack at maturity. I am an adult woman, the ring is my life," said Carini.

"I'm always very intuitive, but when I feel something is not going well, it doesn't mean I give up. However, I have to have maturity to stop," said Carini again.

Khelif is one of two boxers allowed to fight in the Olympics despite being disqualified from last year's Women's World Championship for failing to undergo a testosterone test and genderworthiness.

At that time, he was banned from China's Lin Yu Ting Taipei. However, both of them got tickets to the 2024 Paris Olympics.

Lin is scheduled to face Sitora Turdibekova from Uzbekistan in a featherweight match. The presence of these two names made the 2024 Paris Olympics create one of the biggest controversies in history.