The Olympic Games has become embroiled in a bitter debate about gender after a boxing match was abandoned in under a minute.

Earlier today (August 1), Algeria’s Imane Khelif won a boxing match in the 66kg against Italy’s Angela Carini in just 46 seconds. Carini quit the fight and was pictured crying after the match had finished.

The Italian boxer went on to clarify that she had quit after Khelif hit her in the face, causing an “extreme pain” in her nose.

Carini said: “I am heartbroken. I went to the ring to honour my father. I was told a lot of times that I was a warrior, but I preferred to stop for my health. I have never felt a punch like this. After the second blow, and after years of experience in the ring and a lifetime of fighting, I felt extreme pain in my nose. I said ‘enough’ because I didn't want to... I couldn’t carry on in the match. I thought maybe it was better that I brought an end to the match.”

Carini did not shake hands with Khelif after the match.

25-year-old Khelif was disqualified from last year’s world championships in New Delhi along with Taiwanese boxer Lin Yu-ting after failing to meet gender eligibility criteria. The Russian-led International Boxing Association (IBA) claimed at the time the disqualifications exposed “athletes who tried to deceive their colleagues and pretended to be women.” 

However, both Khelif and Yu-ting are cisgender women (according to Reuters, the pair have Differences of Sexual Development, or DSD). Relatedly, the IBA has long faced questions about its integrity.

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Both boxers were cleared to compete in the women’s boxing at the Olympic Games this year by the International Olympic Committee (IOC). “All athletes participating in the boxing tournament of the Olympic Games Paris 2024 comply with the competition’s eligibility and entry regulations, as well as all applicable medical regulations,” the IOC said in a statement on Monday, July 29.

On social media, many – including JK Rowling – have scolded and misgendered Khelif, with the boxer facing a flood of abuse over her eligibility to compete. However, others have been quick to jump to her defence. “Imane Khelif is a woman with a DSD,” wrote political commentator Ash Sarkar. “It’s perfectly possible to talk about what the eligibility criteria should be for sports, and especially combat sports, without cruelly monstering someone with an intersex condition as a violent male.”

Algeria’s Olympic Committee has criticised the “malicious and unethical” vitriol directed at Khelif this week. “These attempts at defamation, based on lies, are totally unfair, especially at a crucial time when she is preparing for the Olympic Games, the peak of her career,” the statement said.

Khelif also competed in the 2020 Olympics, where she did not win any medals and was beaten by other female competitors.

As a result of Carini’s defeat, Khelif will go on to the women’s 66-kg quarterfinals on Saturday.