‘You can’t put other people at risk’: Aussie boxer weighs into gender storm

Australian boxer Marissa Williamson has declared athletes who have failed gender eligibility tests should be banned from competing against women amid a controversy that has rocked the Paris Olympics.

Williamson was speaking after Algerian Imane Khelif – who was disqualified from the 2023 world championship after reportedly returning high levels of testosterone – beat Angela Carini by abandonment after just 46 seconds on Thursday, with the Italian complaining about the strength of her opponent.

The gender controversy has become a flashpoint at the Games after the International Olympic Committee disregarded the International Boxing Association’s advice that Khelif had advantages over other female competitors and allowed Khelif to compete in Paris.

Another female boxer, Lin Yu-ting from Chinese Taipei, is also competing at these Games despite having been previously disqualified from the IBA-run world championships for failing similar gender eligibility tests.

Neither boxer has publicly identified as transgender or as having “differences in sexual development” (DSD).

Williamson, who lost to Hungarian Anna Luca Hamori on Thursday, would have faced Khelif in the quarter-finals of the women’s 66kg boxing.

Australia’s Marissa Williamson, left, lost to Hungary’s Anna Luca Hamori in their women’s 66kg preliminary boxing match.Credit: AP

“The way I like to explain it is if you have a disability,” Williamson told media after the loss.

“The natural consequence of having a disability is it’s unfortunate that you can’t compete and that’s another natural consequence of having this issue that you have to live your life with. You can’t put other people at risk.”

Overnight, the IOC released a blistering statement in which it condemned the IBA’s “sudden and arbitrary” decision.

“We have seen in reports misleading information about two female athletes competing at the Olympic Games Paris 2024,” 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 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.”

Hamori said a defeat over Khelif in Sunday morning’s (AEST) quarter-final would be a “bigger victory”.

“I’m not scared. Like I said, I don’t care about the story on social,” Hamori said. “If she or he is a man, it will be a bigger victory for me if I will win. Yes. Let’s do it.”

‘It’s not fair, it’s not fair, it’s not fair’

The gender storm intensified at the North Paris Arena on Thursday when Carini abandoned her fight against Khalifi after just two punches were thrown, dislodging her headgear twice. She said she felt a pain in her nose and could be seen yelling “it’s not fair, it’s not fair, it’s not fair” towards her corner.

“It could be the match of my life but, in that moment, I had to safeguard my life, too,” Carini said afterwards.

Algerian boxer Imane Khelif. Credit: Eddie Jim

Transgender women athletes who have transitioned after going through male puberty are different from DSD athletes. In the context of the Olympics, DSD covers athletes who were assigned a female gender at birth, but have naturally occurring testosterone levels high enough to suggest internal sexual characteristics that are not typically male or female.

The International Boxing Association said its tests had concluded the Algerian and Chinese Taipei pair had an unfair advantage over female boxers.

A distressed Carini was in tears after the fight, struggling to contain her emotions reliving a fight that she saw as an opportunity to honour her father.

“I have always honoured my country with loyalty,” Carini said in an interview translated and verified for this masthead by a native Italian speaker. “This time I didn’t succeed because I couldn’t fight any more. So I put an end to the match.”

One of the Italian coaches, when asked about Carini’s motives for abandoning the match, speculated that “people say don’t go, it’s dangerous, she’s a man. Maybe it’s this”.

Carini said she abandoned the match, “because after the second blow, after years of experience in the ring and a lifetime of fighting, I felt a strong pain in my nose and with the maturity of a fighter I said [I] could no longer finish the match.

“… I am heartbroken because I am a fighter, my father taught me to be a warrior.”

Carini said the controversy surrounding Khelif and Lin did not play a part in her decision.

“I never cared, I went ahead and I just wanted to win,” she said. “… I am not here to judge or make judgments, I simply got into the ring to fight and fight for my dream, it did not happen ... I don’t feel like saying or giving answers about it. I said this blow to the nose, I hurt myself and I said enough.”

‘Baseless progaganda’

Khelif did not address the controversy after the fight.

“First, I thank all the Algerian people, after this first victory,” Khelif said. “I hope to achieve a second victory to secure a medal, and then think about the gold medal. “I tell the Algerian people that I am working to provide the best I can in order to make them happy.”

The Algerian Olympic Committee issued a statement on Wednesday condemning what it termed “lies” and “unethical targeting and maligning of our esteemed athlete, Imane Khelif, with baseless propaganda from certain foreign media outlets”.

In a statement on Thursday, the International Boxing Association said of last year’s tests: “The athletes did not undergo a testosterone examination but were subject to a separate and recognised test, whereby the specifics remain confidential. This test conclusively indicated that both athletes did not meet the required necessary eligibility criteria and were found to have competitive advantages over other female competitors.

“The IOC’s differing regulations on these matters, in which IBA is not involved, raise serious questions about both competitive fairness and athletes’ safety.”

Italian Giorgia Meloni, the Italian prime minister, also weighed in to say the rules must protect fair sport.

“I think that athletes who have male genetic characteristics should not be allowed to compete in women’s events, but not because you want to discriminate against anyone but to protect the right of female athletes to be able to compete on equal terms,” she told Italian media at Casa Italia in Paris.

IOC spokesman Mark Adams defended the rules on gender eligibility for the Olympics.

“This is not a transgender issue,” he said. “These women have been competing in competitions for many years.”

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