Italian boxer Angela Carini insisted she has "never felt a punch like this" after her preliminary round of 16 bout against Algerian Imane Khelif was abandoned after just 46 seconds.
The build-up to the fight was marred by controversy following the inclusion of Khelif, who was one of two athletes cleared to compete in the women's boxing after being disqualified from last year’s Women’s World Boxing Championships in New Delhi for failing to meet gender eligibility criteria.
She was ruled eligible, however, to compete in Paris, a competition run by the International Olympic Committee.
During Thursday's match, Khelif landed a few good shots, including a huge punch to Carini’s face.
The Italian then went over to her corner and subsequently signalled that she was unable to carry on due to pain in her nose, leading to the fight being abandoned with two minutes and 14 seconds left in the first round.
Carini was pictured in floods of tears afterwards and said she was unable to continue for her health.
She said: "It hurt so much. 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.
"I went to my corner and raised my hand and said I’d had enough because my nose hurt so much.
"I’ve always gone into the ring with honour, I’ve always fought for my country, loyally, but this time I couldn’t as I wasn’t able to fight anymore."
Her coach, Emanuele Renzini, said afterwards: "She felt pain in her nose and said to me 'I don't want to fight anymore’."
"It would have been easier not to show up, because all of Italy had been asking her not to fight for days. But Angela was motivated and wanted to do it.
"Of course when she met her opponent at the draw, she said 'it's not fair’.
"But there was no premeditation here today. She quit after taking one punch, she told me she didn’t feel she could fight.
"I tried to tell her to at least get to the end of the first round so we would fight, but she wouldn’t."
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.
Some sports have limited the levels of testosterone allowed for athletes competing in women's competition, while others ban everyone who has been through male puberty.
The International Boxing Association is no longer recognised by the IOC as the global sports body following a failure to implement governance and financial reforms.
The IOC is therefore running the boxing competition at the Paris Games, as it did at the Tokyo Olympics, and its rules on the inclusion of athletes with DSDs and gender diversity in the women's competition apply.
The latest IOC guidelines, issued in 2021, state that inclusion should be the default in such cases and that athletes should only be excluded from women's competition if there are clear fairness or safety issues.
The IOC has cleared the way for Khelif as well as Taiwan's double world champion Lin Yu-ting, who lost her bronze medal at the March 2023 World Championships for failing to meet the IBA's gender eligibility criteria.
IBA president Umar Kremlev posted on Telegram at the time that DNA tests had "proven that they have XY chromosomes" but in a statement yesterday the IBA would only say that the athletes had failed "a separate and recognised test" that was not for testosterone.
Lin faces Sitora Turdibekova in the women's 57kg category on Friday.
Khelif has previously fought, and been beaten by Kellie Harrington and Amy Broadhurst.
Harrington met Khelif at the 2021 Games in Tokyo, beating her in the quarter-finals, on her way to gold in the women's lightweight, while Broadhurst defeated the Algerian in the final of the IBA-organised 2022 World Championships in Istanbul.
Broadhurst has defended Khelif's right to compete, writing on X: "Have a lot of people texting me over Imane Khelif. 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 fact that she has been beating (sic) by 9 females before says it all."
Italy's Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said Carini's bout against Khelif was not a fight among equals.
"I think that athletes who have male genetic characteristics should not be admitted to women's competitions," Meloni said.
"And not because you want to discriminate against someone, but to protect the right of female athletes to be able to compete on equal terms."
Mark Adams, IOC spokesperson, said on Thursday morning that those competing in the boxing are compliant with the eligibility rules.
He told a press conference: "What I'd repeat is all the competitors comply with the competition eligibility rules and that’s as it should be.
"That’s how these boxers concerned have taken part in these Games, have taken part in previous World Championships, have taken part in previous Olympic Games, have taken part in regional and continental competitions.
"They comply with the eligibility rules and I think that’s as it should be and how it can be."
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