Women’s Group Voices Concerns After Female Boxer Injured by Transgender Athlete
‘This is not sport,’ she said. ‘You can’t even call it entertainment as no one in their right mind wants to watch a male repeatedly punch a woman.’
An Australian women’s group has spoken out following a controversial boxing match at the Paris Olympics which saw a woman forced to drop out of the competition after being dealt blows by a male-to-female trans athlete.
Italy’s Angela Carini suffered a significant strike to her nose and chin before declaring an end to the match after just 46 seconds.
Carini’s rival, Algerian trans woman Imane Khelif, was noticeably taller and more muscular than the Italian woman.
Khelif had previously failed two sex tests in March 2023 and was banned from the International Boxing Association from competing against women.
Carini said she quit to save her life and could not “breathe anymore” after the blows, describing the hits as an experience she had never encountered before.
The incident has triggered worldwide discussion on the inclusion of trans women in women’s sports, particularly contact sports, where there are fears for the safety of women competing.
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Women’s Forum Australia CEO Rachael Wong said there was no competition between a woman and a biologically male trans athlete in the boxing ring.
“This is not sport,” she told The Epoch Times. “You can’t even call it entertainment as no one in their right mind wants to watch a male repeatedly punch a woman in the face.”
“The International Olympic Committee (IOC) is not fit for purpose.
“It has shown a flagrant disregard for women’s safety and has abandoned all sense of fairness, the bedrock of competitive sport.”
Other prominent female figures have also spoken out in the wake of the match.
Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling took to X, formerly Twitter, to discuss her concerns and grave fears for female athletes.
Rowling termed the incident as a “brutal injustice” for Carini, who she believes had her life’s dreams ripped away from her by the presence of a biological male in the ring.
Referring to an image of Carini and Khelif, Rowling expressed her dismay at the match, stating, “Could any picture sum up our new men’s rights movement better?”
“The smirk of a male who knows he’s protected by a misogynist sporting establishment enjoying the distress of a woman he’s just punched in the head, and whose life’s ambitions he’s just shattered.”
International Olympic Committee Labels Trans Athletes Victims
In response, the Paris 2024 Boxing Unit and International Olympic Committee issued a statement affirming the right to practice sport at the Olympics without discrimination.
They clarified that gender classification is based on passports and compliance with entry regulations.
The statement defended the inclusion of Khelif and a second male to female trans athlete, Taiwan’s Lin Yu-ting, in the games, accusing the media of running misleading reports on them being banned from other competitions.
“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 statement said.
“These two athletes were the victims of a sudden and arbitrary decision by the IBA. Towards the end of the IBA World Championships in 2023, they were suddenly disqualified without any due process.”
The process used to remove the trans athletes from the world championships was criticised by the International Olympic Committee, who said the approach had led to the “current aggression” against the trans athletes.
