A fuming JK Rowling last night slammed an Olympic boxing match as ‘a man beating a women in public for entertainment’ after a female boxer once disqualified for failing a gender test forced out an Italian opponent.
A global backlash, led by Italy’s prime minister and the Harry Potter author, ensued after Angela Carini quit to ‘save my life’ just 46 seconds into her bout against Algerian opponent Imane Khelif, claiming she had been hit so hard that she ‘couldn’t breathe’.
Rowling called Khelif a ‘bullying cheat’ and hit out at Olympic bosses who she branded ‘disgraceful’ for allowing the bout to go ahead.
Women’s rights campaigner Ms Rowling tweeted a video of the fight and wrote: ‘Watch this then explain why you’re OK with a man beating a woman in public for your entertainment.
‘This isn’t sport. From the bullying cheat in red all the way up to the organisers who allowed this to happen, this is men revelling in their power over women.’
Olympic bosses, however, quickly defended Khelif, slamming the ‘aggression’ and ‘discrimination’ from the public.
Khelif shared the statement on social media and wrote: ‘Praise be to God. Divine justice.’
Giorgia Meloni protested after her nation’s Olympic hopeful was left sobbing on her knees in the ring following the contentious match against a rival previously banned for having an ‘unfair advantage’.
Ms Meloni added: ‘I was emotional yesterday when she wrote “I will fight” because the dedication, the head, the character, surely also play a role in these things. But then it also matters to be able to compete on equal grounds and, from my point of view, it was not an even contest.’
The Italian premier was joined by Ms Rowling, former British PM Liz Truss and Sir Andy Murray’s mother, Judy, as well as female sports stars, in condemning the scenes.
The fight between the two 25-year-olds ended after Carini was rocked by two punches and said later the savage force of the blows had made it ‘impossible to continue’. Carini, a police officer, fell to her knees and burst into tears as she conceded the match, shouting: ‘This is unjust.’
Her prime minister, who was visiting the Olympic Village yesterday, said: ‘This, from my point of view, was not a competition on equal terms. It is a fact that with the levels of testosterone present in the blood of the Algerian athlete the race at the start does not seem fair.’
Carini was pictured in floods of tears after the match and said she was unable to continue for her health, adding: ‘I have never felt a punch like this.’ Ms Murray wrote on X: ‘This should never have been allowed to happen.’
James Guy, a five-times Olympic medallist member of the British swimming team tweeted: ‘Not fair!’.
Former tennis star Martina Navratilova wrote it was ‘a travesty and makes a mockery of all Olympic sports’. Speaking out after her loss, Carini explained: ‘It could be the match of my life but, in that moment, I had to safeguard my life, too.’
After the match was stopped, the referee raised Khelif’s hand in the air. But a visibly furious Carini yanked her own hand away from the fight official and walked off.
WHAT IS A DSD?
Differences of Sexual Development 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, blood testosterone levels in the male range and the ability to use testosterone circulating within their bodies.
WHY IS THAT AN ISSUE IN SPORT?
Women’s sports categories exist in most sports in recognition of the clear advantage that going through male puberty gives an athlete.
That advantage is not just through higher testosterone levels but also in muscle mass, skeletal advantage and faster twitch muscle.
In combat sports such as boxing, this can be a serious safety issue.
WHAT IS THE ISSUE AT THE PARIS OLYMPICS?
Boxers Imane Khelif and Lin Yu-ting at last year’s world championships in New Delhi fell foul of International Boxing Association (IBA) eligibility rules that prevent athletes with XY chromosomes from competing in women’s events.
Algeria’s Khelif was disqualified hours before her gold-medal bout in New Delhi, while Taiwan’s double world champion Lin lost her bronze medal after she too failed to meet the criteria.
Carini’s coach Emanuele Renzini reportedly said after the fight: ‘I don’t know if her nose is broken. But many people in Italy tried to call and tell her: ‘Don’t go please: It’s a man, it’s dangerous for you’.’
The United Nations’ Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls, Reem Alsalem, backed Carini saying she ‘rightly followed her instincts and prioritised her physical safety, but she and other female athletes should not have been exposed to this physical and psychological violence based on their sex.’
And Labour MP and feminist campaigner Rosie Duffield told the Mail: ‘For days, we have been highlighting the potential danger of this specific event to the IOC [International Olympic Committee] who chose to go ahead and ignore us.’
Former Prime Minister Liz Truss also said: ‘When will this madness stop?’ However, Labour’s two equalities ministers were, despite requests for comment, both silent. As the furore was raging, one of them, Anneliese Dodds did find time to tweet about ‘cycling to work day’.
But Khelif was backed by her country’s Olympic committee which ‘strongly condemns the unethical targeting and maligning of our esteemed athlete’.
The IOC said all boxers in Paris ‘comply with the competition’s eligibility and entry regulations’.
Khelif was allowed to fight at the Olympics despite being disqualified from the women’s world championships last year for failing testosterone and gender eligibility tests.
These were organised by the International Boxing Association (IBA), a Russia-led body which has since been stripped of its status. But ex-world champion Amy Broadhurst tweeted: ‘Personally I don’t think she has done anything to ‘cheat’. I thinks it’s the way she was born & that’s out of her control.’
The IOC blamed the IBA’s ‘arbitrary’ decision for the row, with a spokesman adding: ‘This is not a transgender issue. I should make this absolutely clear.’
Khelif was thrown out of last year’s world championships after failing tests carried out to establish gender qualification.
She previously came fifth at the Tokyo Olympics in 2020.
Olympics officials at Paris 2024 have accepted her as a female and state so in her official games biography.
Another female boxer Lin Yu-ting of Taiwan was also disqualified from the 2023 women’s boxing world championships for failing a gender eligibility test.
An IOC spokesperson said: ‘All athletes participating in the boxing tournament comply with the competition’s eligibility and entry regulations, as well as all applicable medical regulations, in accordance with the Paris 2024 Boxing Unit.’
They also defended Khelif and Yu-ting against the backlash.
‘They (Khelif and Yu-ting) were suddenly disqualified without any due process,’ the 557-word statement read before adding that, in line with previous Olympics, ‘the gender and age of the athletes are based on their passport’.
‘Every person has the right to practice sport without discrimination,’ the IOC said, before highlighting that its rules were based on the rules the IBA had in place before its forced withdrawal in 2023.
It also attacked ‘misleading information about two female athletes’, adding that the pair ‘have been competing in international boxing competitions for many years in the women’s category.’
The statement highlighted ‘aggression’ against the boxers which it said was ‘based entirely on this arbitrary decision, which was taken without any proper procedure’.
It concluded: ‘Such an approach is contrary to good governance. Eligibility rules should not be changed during ongoing competition, and any rule change must follow appropriate processes and should be based on scientific evidence…The IOC is saddened by the abuse that the two athletes are currently receiving.’