The International Boxing Association (IBA) has announced that Angela Carini, who withdrew from her bout against Algeria’s Imane Khelif after just 46 seconds at the Paris 2024 Games, will receive prize money equivalent to that of an Olympic champion.
Carini pulled out in the first round after the Algerian, who is at the heart of a gender row, pummelled the Italian with a barrage of punches.
IBA President Umar Kremlev expressed his support to the Italian, stating: “I couldn’t look at her tears.”
“We will protect each boxer and ensure only eligible athletes compete,” he said in a statement released by IBA on Friday night.
Kremlev also revealed IBA’s support for Sitora Turdibekova of Uzbekistan, who lost to Lin Yu-ting from the Chinese Taipei — a boxer previously deemed ineligible by the IBA.
The IBA statement added that it will award prize money to all Olympic champions and medallists from Paris 2024, with a total fund of over $3.1 million.
Gold medallists will receive $100,000, silver medallists $50,000, and bronze medallists $25,000. Quarterfinalists will also earn $10,000 each.
Algeria’s Khelif, and Taiwan double world champion Lin Yu-ting, were cleared to compete in Paris despite being disqualified at the 2023 World Championships after failing IBA eligibility rules that prevent athletes with male XY chromosomes from competing in women’s events.
The IOC last year stripped the IBA of its status as boxing’s governing body over governance issues and took charge of the Paris 2024 boxing competition itself, but now finds itself at the centre of a row over the pair’s participation.
Welterweight Khelif next takes on Hungary’s Luca Anna Hamori.
The IOC said the IBA decision to disqualify the boxers last year was arbitrary and the main cause for the furore that has seen people such as British author J. K. Rowling and billionaire Elon Musk voice their opposition to them competing in the Games.
Italian Prime Minister Georgia Meloni, who met IOC President Thomas Bach on Thursday, said the Italian athlete had faced a boxer who had physical advantages and it was not a fight between equals.
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.
Differences of Sexual Disorder (DSD) are a group of rare conditions involving genes, hormones and reproductive organs. Some people with DSDs are raised as female but have XY sex chromosomes and blood testosterone levels in the male range.
The IOC said the rules of eligibility were based on those of the Tokyo Games in 2021 and could not be changed during a competition.
— Additional input from Reuters
