‘It’s unfair and dangerous’, slams Team GB two-time Olympic champion Nicola Adams as she wades into boxing gender row
NICOLA ADAMS has waded into the boxing gender row regarding Olympic star Imane Khelif.
The Algerian boxer is at the centre of controversy after her fight with Italian fighter Angela Carini.
Carini, 25, walked out of the fight after just 46 seconds after receiving a couple of blows to the face.
She claimed that she feared for her life in the ring, in which she broke down in tears after the bout.
Khelif, 25, is one of two athletes who have been cleared to compete in the women’s boxing, having been disqualified from last year’s Women’s World Championships for failing to meet eligibility criteria.
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) said Khelif was disqualified in New Delhi for failing a testosterone level test.
Team GB two-time Olympic champion Adams, 41, has now spoken out against Khelif on social media.
She wrote: “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 give up on her Olympic dreams.
“People not born as biological woman, that have been through male puberty should not be able to complete in women’s sport.
“Not only is this unfair it’s dangerous!!”
After the fight, Carini’s coach revealed that she had been told not to start the fight.
They said: “I don’t know if her nose is broken.
Olympics gender controversy
THE International Olympic Committee (IOC) stirred up a huge controversy by clearing two women to box who had previously failed a gender test.
Algeria’s Imane Khelif and Taiwan’s Lin Yu-ting were disqualified at the Women’s World Championships in New Delhi, India, in March 2023.
Lin Yu-ting was stripped of a bronze medal after failing a gender eligibility test.
Khelif was disqualified in New Delhi for failing a testosterone level test.
Officials found tests showed they had ‘XY chromosomes’ — which indicates a person is biologically male.
Rare ‘intersex’ medical conditions, medically known as differences in sexual development (DSDs), can also mean outwardly female individuals can have ‘male’ chromosomes, or vice versa.
The Russia-led International Boxing Association organised that event but is no longer recognised by the IOC.
IOC spokesman Mark Adams said: “These athletes have competed many times before for many years, they haven’t just suddenly arrived – they competed in Tokyo.
“The federation needs to make the rules to make sure that there is fairness but at the same time there is the ability for everyone to take part that wants to. That is a difficult balance.
“In the end the experts for each sport are the people who work in that. If there is a big advantage that clearly is not acceptable, but that needs to be a decision made at that level.”
Both Khelif and Lin competed at the delayed Olympic Games in Tokyo in 2021. Lin is a two-time winner at the Asian Women Amateur Boxing Championships.
The IOC said all boxers in Paris “comply with the competition’s eligibility and entry regulations”.
The controversy follows the famous case of Caster Semenya.
South African middle-distance runner Semenya has a condition which means her body naturally produces higher levels of testosterone than normal for women.
She won gold in the 800m at London 2012 and Rio in 2016 but was unable to compete at Tokyo in 2021 after World Athletics brought in new rules independently of the IOC at the time.
“I have to speak with the girl. 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 Algerian Olympic Committee (COA) had already defended Khelif’s participation at The Games.
A statement read: “COA strongly condemns the unethical targeting and maligning of our esteemed athlete, Imane Khelif, with baseless propaganda from certain foreign media outlets.
“Such attacks on her personality and dignity are deeply unfair, especially as she prepares for the pinnacle of her career at the Olympics.
“The COA has taken all necessary measures to protect our champion.”
In Algeria, the law does not allow people to transition between genders.
Khelif has never identified as a man, transgender, or intersex which refers to people who have male and female sex characteristics.
Taiwan’s Lin Yu-ting, who has also previously failed eligibility tests, will also be fighting in the Paris Olympics.
Khelif has received the support of boxer Amy Broadhurst.
The Irish star responded to people on social media and pointed out that nine females had beaten the Algerian in the past.
She said: “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 and that’s out of her control.
“The fact that she has been beaten by 9 females before says it all.”
Khelif has had 51 fights in her career, winning 42, with six of the victories being by knockout while she lost the other nine.
What's happening today at The Games?
WHAT TO WATCH TODAY..
TODAY’S BRIT MEDAL HOPES
Jack Laugher, Olympic champ in Rio, teams up with Anthony Harding for the 3m synchro diving (10am).
It is the semi-finals and final (8.35pm) of the BMX racing with Beth Shriever and Kye Whyte both in contention.
Back-to-back world champion lightweight scullers Emily Craig and Imogen Grant can make amends for Tokyo heartache, missing a medal by 0.01 seconds, by winning gold (11.22am).
Bryony Page will look for a medal in the women’s trampolining, too (12.50pm).
BRITS TO WATCH
In athletics, Dina Asher-Smith has her 100m heat (10.50am), Josh Kerr has his in the 1,500m (10.10am) and then Keely Hodgkinson’s 800m opener is at 6.45pm.
Adam Burgess, Joe Clarke, Mallory Franklin and Kimblery Woods have their time trials for the new kayak cross event (2.30pm).
And it is the team jumping final of the equestrian at 1pm with Team GB in contention.
GLOBAL STARS TODAY
Leon Marchand is taking his home Olympics by storm and can add the 200m individual medley to his growing collection (7.49pm) – and is eyeing a world record, too.
Joshua Cheptegei of Uganda and Ethiopian Selemon Barega will battle it out for the men’s 10,000m gold – the only medal up for grabs on the opening night of the athletics (8.20pm).
FANCY SOMETHING DIFFERENT?
It is the final day of the windsurfing down in Marseille – the new class, iQFoil replaces the old RS:X and makes for brilliant viewing. Emma Wilson could bag a medal.
STATS MAD
154 – French judoxa Teddy Riner is going for a record-equally three individual gold medals in the 100+kg category (4.50pm). He won a staggering 154 contests in a row between September 2010 and February 2020.
Follow all the action as it unfolds with our Paris 2024 Olympics LIVE blog.