Italian boxer Angela Carini says she “wants to apologise” to Imane Khelif for how she handled the moments after their controversial bout at the Olympics and “would embrace her” if she saw her again.
Carini abandoned the last-16 contest after just 46 seconds, when Khelif landed the first significant punch of the fight. After Khelif’s hand was raised to signal her victory, Carini dropped to her knees in tears and appeared to reject her opponent’s attempts to hug her, while also not shaking her hand.
The Italian could also be heard telling her coach, “It’s not right, it’s not right!” before promptly leaving the arena. She had suffered a suspected broken nose. The 25-year-old told reporters that she had never been punched so hard in her career.
Last year, Khelif was disqualified from the women’s World Championships in New Delhi for failing a gender eligibility test. The International Boxing Association (IBA) said she failed to meet their eligibility criteria, which prevent athletes with male XY chromosomes from competing in women’s events. The International Olympic Committee (IOC), which runs the Olympic boxing event after stripping the IBA of recognition as the sport’s global federation last year, has different rules surrounding gender eligibility.
The IBA did not specify why the boxer failed her gender eligibility test but did clarify that she did not undergo testosterone examinations. Khelif, 25, does not identify as transgender or intersex.
Carini has now said she regrets how she handled the aftermath of the fight by not shaking her opponent’s hand and bears no grudge towards her.
“All this controversy makes me sad,” said Carini in an interview with Italian outlet La Gazzetta dello Sport, according to the BBC and the Associated Press. “I’m sorry for my opponent, too. If the IOC said she can fight, I respect that decision.
“It wasn’t something I intended to do [not shake her hand]. Actually, I want to apologise to her and everyone else. I was angry because my Olympics had gone up in smoke. I don’t have anything against Khelif. Actually, if I were to meet her again I would embrace her.”
The IOC issued a statement on Thursday confirming that, as with previous Games, the gender of athletes was based on their passports, saying that “misleading information” had been reported about Khelif, and pointed out she has been competing in international boxing events for many years, including the Tokyo Games three years ago.
It described the IBA’s decision to disqualify last year as “sudden” and “arbitrary” and having been made “without due process”.
Speaking on Friday, IOC spokesman Mark Adams described the issue as a “minefield”, saying: “There still is neither scientific nor political consensus on this issue. It’s not a black-and-white issue, and we would at the IOC be very interested to hear of such a consensus on this, and we would be the first to act should a common understanding be reached.
“I know some of the athletes who underwent sex tests in their teens. It was pretty disgraceful and luckily that is behind us. This is a minefield and unfortunately, as with all minefields, we want a simple explanation of how we can determine this. That explanation does not exist.”
Adams also called for an end to the misinformation and vitriol that has proliferated online since Thursday’s bout.
“What I would urge is that we try to take the culture war out of this and actually address the issues and the people and think about the individuals concerned and the real damage that is being done by misinformation,” he added.
“No one likes to see aggression online by anyone and we’ve had quite a few cases of online aggression against a whole range of athletes, and that is not acceptable. We would hope that that stops. The IOC is always trying to do a balance between inclusivity and fairness. That is a difficult one and something we’ll have to look at. But that is entirely different to what is going on here, which is a woman boxer being stigmatised and potentially forced out of a competition.”
Additional reporting by PA