Olympics, Angela Carini’s withdrawal? “I dissociate myself”, storm over Rai commentary –

The most talked about boxing match of the 2024 Paris Olympics between Angela Carini and Imane Khelif ended in abandonment. In the ring, the Italian retired after the first punches thrown by the Algerian and then burst into tears in the ring at the North Paris Arena. Carini’s Olympic adventure against the intersex athlete, i.e. with male and female sexual characteristics, as well as with a very high level of testosterone, which had already led to her being excluded from the boxing world championships, thus ended in the round of 16. But for the IOC, the criterion valid for the International Boxing Federation is not sufficient and also in the name of inclusiveness, Khelif was admitted to the competition.

“I didn’t feel like fighting anymore after the first minute. I started to feel a strong pain in my nose, it’s not like me to give up, it’s precisely because I couldn’t do it, I said enough and ended the match” said the Italian. A fundamental subtext to understand the reasons for Carini’s withdrawal, but which according to many viewers was not sufficiently underlined in the Rai commentary. Oscar Damiani: “It seems like a contested abandonment”, comments Oscar Damiani, legend of Italian boxing. The commentator instead states: “This is the last of the endings we could have expected”. “It’s not a good impression”, “now Carini gives in to a cry that seems even stranger”, say the two concluding: “I dissociate myself…”, “me too”.

“‘He hits too hard, it’s not fair’. Well done Angela, you did well! – said the deputy prime minister, minister of Infrastructure and Transport and secretary of the League Matteo Salvini – Our athlete had to withdraw against Imane Khelif, before bursting into tears for so many sacrifices gone up in smoke. A truly un-Olympic scene: shame on those bureaucrats who allowed a match that was evidently not on equal terms. Everyone in Italy and around the world noticed, except the distracted commentators of Rai. A hug to Angela, go!”, Salvini wrote on social media.

“Solidarity with the athlete Angela Carini for having been forced to withdraw from the competition after competing for 46 seconds and having tested the male power of the blows inflicted by the inter-boxer/boxer – declared the vice president of the Chamber of Deputies Fabio Rampelli of Fratelli d’Italia – I don’t know if it is more the pain for the withdrawal or the anger for the absurdity of the IOC’s choice that despite the disparity on the field, decided to allow the boxing match in the evident difference in muscle power”.

“Then the comments of the Rai commentators were scandalous, who even had the audacity to state live ‘Of all the endings, this is the last one we could have expected. It seems like a position I don’t understand. I dissociate myself’. On what grounds do they allow themselves to criticize the choice of a champion who participates in the Olympics forced to compete against ‘a man of fact’?”, attacks Rampelli. “Do these naive commentators have any idea what it means for an athlete to prepare for at least 4 years straight for the biggest sporting event in the world and then give up the competition? Then the left is ridiculous, after having denied biological sex for years, now to include the intersex boxer they say that the sexual organs are those of a woman. Surely the IOC will have to pay for the moral and ethical damages of a choice that has effectively contaminated the Olympics”.