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Two-time Olympic gold medalist Claressa Shields slammed the victory of Algerian boxer Imane Khelif, who forced her Italian opponent Angela Carini to quit 46 seconds into their preliminary match in the 2024 Paris Olympics.
Khelif is one of the two boxers, who have been cleared to compete at the Paris Olympics as women after getting banned from the world championships for being deemed biologically male.
“I’m taking a stand! Women should fight against women, men fight against men and transgenders fight against transgenders! This is ridiculous and I’m heartbroken for the women boxers at the Olympics,” Shields posted on X, quote-tweeting a video clip of Khelif’s victory.
An emotional Carina broke down after the loss.
“I’m used to suffering,” Carini told reporters after the loss, per New York Post. “I’ve never taken a punch like that, it’s impossible to continue. I’m nobody to say it’s illegal.
I got into the ring to fight. But I didn’t feel like it anymore after the first minute. I started to feel a strong pain in my nose. I didn’t give up, but a punch hurt too much and so I said enough. I’m leaving with my head held high.”
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Getty Algeria’s Imane Khelif (in red) and Italy’s Angela Carini leave after their women’s 66kg preliminaries round of 16 boxing match during the Paris 2024 Olympic Games at the North Paris Arena, in Villepinte on August 1, 2024.
‘They Got Men Fighting Against Women’
Even before Khelif took the ring, Shields already criticized the International Olympic Committee for allowing her and Lin Yu-Ting of Taiwan to compete in the women’s division.
“So they got men fighting against women in the Olympics boxing! I wouldn’t have stood for no stuff like that! That is so heartbreaking to the women who have to have their dreams ruined by a man. Sad asf!
But neither Khelif nor Yu-Ting identify as transgender.
Shields made history last year by beating Canadian Vanessa Lepage-Joanisse to win the WBC women’s heavyweight championship and the vacant WBO light heavyweight championship after being the undisputed women’s middleweight world champion for a long time.
IOC Defends Controversial Decision
Both Khelif and Yu-Ting passed the Olympic Committee’s guidelines, according to IOC spokesman Mark Adams.
“Everyone competing in the women’s category is complying with the competition eligibility rules,” Adams told reporters on Tuesday, July 30, per Daily Mail. “They are women in their passports and it’s stated that this is the case, that they are female.”
Yu-Ting, the top seed in the 57-kilogram category will open her Paris Olympics gold medal quest against Sitora Turdibekova of Uzbekistan on Friday, August 2.
Adams doubled down on the IOC’s decision, saying they were based on the rule books that were also applied in the 2016 Rio Olympics, where Shields won her second Olympic gold in the middleweight class.
“They are eligible by the rules of the federation which was set in 2016, and which worked for Tokyo too, to compete as women, which is what they are. And we fully support that,” Adams said.
Algeria Olympic Committee Condemns Outrage Against Imane Khelif
The Olympic Committee of Algeria came to Khelif’s defense following the outrage over her inclusion in the women’s division.
“COA strongly condemns the unethical targeting and maligning of our esteemed athlete, Imane Khelif, with baseless propaganda from certain foreign media outlets,” it said in a statement, per Reuters.
“Such attacks on her personality and dignity are deeply unfair, especially as she prepares for the pinnacle of her career at the Olympics. The COA has taken all necessary measures to protect our champion.”
International Boxing Association (IBA), whose longtime feud with the IOC led to their ban from the Olympics in 2019, disqualified both Khelif and Yu-Ting from last year’s world championships for failing to meet the gender eligibility criteria.
IBA did not disclose their eligibility rules but the New York Post reported Khelif was disqualified “after her elevated levels of testosterone failed to meet the eligibility criteria.”
Now Khelif is one win away from clinching an Olympic medal. She will face Anna Luca Hamori, Hungary’s first Olympic boxer, in the quarterfinals on Saturday, August 3.