Olympic boxing controversy boils over as Labour's Lisa Nandy to speak to sporting bodies over 'uncomfortable watch'

Italian boxer Angela Carini was set to fight Algeria’ Imane Khelif, but Carini forfeited the match after only 46 seconds after claiming that she had “never felt a punch like this”. Khelif is one of two fighters attending the Paris Olympic Games despite having been disqualified from the World Championships last year by the International Boxing Association (IBA) for failing to meet gender eligibility criteria.

Khelif met the gender criteria to compete in the Olympic Games, however her inclusion has angered some gender critical figures such as JK Rowling. Labour’s Lisa Nancy has now commented on the controversy, saying that the match between Carini and Khelif had been an “uncomfortable watch” and is set to speak to sporting bodies about the issue of gender in sports.

She said: “It was an incredibly uncomfortable watch for the 46 seconds that it lasted. And I know that there’s a lot of concern about women competitors, about whether we’re getting the balance right in not just boxing but other sports as well.

“The decision that successive governments have made is that these are complex decisions that should be made by sporting bodies. In this case, for example, I understand that the biological facts are far more complicated than is being presented on social media and in some of the speculation.

“But I think as sporting bodies try to get that balance between inclusion, fairness and safety, there is a role for government to make sure that they’ve got the guidance and the framework and the support to make those decisions correctly and it’s something that I’ll be talking to sporting bodies about over the coming weeks and months.”

Reem Alsalem, the UN’s special rapporteur on violence against women and girls (VAWG), criticised Khalif’s inclusion, saying that her Italian opponent had “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”. Former Team GB gold medal boxer Nicola Adams said:  “After years of fighting for women’s boxing to even exist in the Olympics and then all the training they go through to get there it was hard to watch another fighter be forced to give up on her Olympic dreams.

“People not born as biological women, that have been through male puberty, should not be able to compete in women’s sport. Not only is this unfair it’s dangerous!” However, champion Irish boxer Amy Broadhurst defended Khalif, saying: “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 by 9 females before says it all (sic).”

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has criticised the “aggression” directed towards Khalif and Lin Yu-ting of Taiwan, the second Olympian who had been disqualified from the World Championships. The IOC said that all competitors taking part all Olympic events “comply with the competition’s eligibility and entry regulations, as well as all applicable medical regulations set by the Paris 2024 Boxing Unit”, adding: “We have seen in reports misleading information about two female athletes competing at the Olympic Games Paris 2024.

“The two athletes have been competing in international boxing competitions for many years in the women’s category, including the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020, International Boxing Association (IBA) World Championships and IBA-sanctioned tournaments. The current aggression against these two athletes is based entirely on this arbitrary decision, which was taken without any proper procedure – especially considering that these athletes had been competing in top-level competition for many years.”

Carini has since said that she would like to apologise to Khalif for the furore that has sparked following her forfeit. She told Italian newspaper Gazzetta dello Sport: “All this controversy makes me sad. I'm sorry for my opponent, too. If the IOC said she can fight, I respect that decision."

She added: "It wasn't something I intended to do. Actually, I want to apologise to her and everyone else. I was angry because my Olympics had gone up in smoke."