Imane Khelif of Algeria won her opening Olympic boxing bout on Thursday when opponent Angela Carini of Italy quit after just 46 seconds.
Khelif was disqualified from the 2023 world championships after failing an unspecified gender eligibility test, and her presence at the Paris Olympics has become a divisive issue.
Carini and Khelif exchanged only a few punches before Carini walked away and abandoned the bout, an extremely unusual occurrence in Olympic boxing. Carini, whose headgear apparently became dislodged at least once before she quit, didn’t shake Khelif’s hand after the decision was announced, but she cried in the ring on her knees.
Afterward, a still-tearful Carini said she quit because of intense pain in her nose after the opening punches. Carini, who had a spot of blood on her trunks, said she wasn’t making a political statement and was not refusing to fight Khelif.
“I felt a severe pain in my nose, and with the maturity of a boxer, I said ‘enough,’ because I didn’t want to, I didn’t want to, I couldn’t finish the match,” Carini said.
Carini further said she is not qualified to decide whether Khelif should be allowed to compete.
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“I am not here to judge or pass judgment,” Carini said. “If an athlete is this way, and in that sense it’s not right or it is right, it’s not up to me to decide. I just did my job as a boxer. I got into the ring and fought. I did it with my head held high and with a broken heart for not having finished the last kilometer.”
Khelif is an accomplished amateur who won a silver medal at the International Boxing Association’s 2022 world championships. The IBA — which has been banned from the Olympics since 2019 after years of disputes with the IOC — disqualified her from last year’s championships shortly before her gold-medal match because of what it claimed were elevated levels of testosterone.
The 25-year-old entered the ring at the North Paris Arena to a chorus of cheers, but the crowd was confused by the bout’s sudden end. Italy coach Emanuele Renzini said he discussed the matchup with Carini and offered to allow her to back out earlier, but the boxer had been “very determined” to fight until the opening minute.
“I am heartbroken because I am a fighter,” Carini said. “My father taught me to be a warrior. I have always stepped into the ring with honor and I have always served my country with loyalty. And this time I couldn’t do it because I couldn’t fight anymore, and so I ended the match.”
Khelif could clinch an Olympic medal with a victory in her quarterfinal bout on Saturday against Anna Luca Hamori, Hungary’s first Olympic boxer.
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