Olympian Sharron Davies has blasted organisers of the Paris games for ‘allowing women to be beaten up by men’ after a boxing match between a ‘biological male’ and female fighter ended in just 46 seconds.
Italian Angela Carini threw in the towel after just two punches from her opponent Imane Khelif – who was banned from the world championships after being deemed ‘biologically male‘.
GB swimming hero Davies has now lashed out at the International Olympics Committee (IOC) for allowing the fight, raging: ‘This is shocking. The IOC are a bloody disgrace. In effect legalising beating up females. This must stop!!! What the hell’s the matter with them?
She was joined by former Prime Minister Liz Truss, who wrote on X: ‘When will this madness stop? Men cannot become women. Why is the British Government not objecting to this?’
While Harry Potter author JK Rowling branded the contest ‘insanity’. In a post yesterday, the gender-critical author wrote: ‘What will it take to end this insanity? A female boxer left with life-altering injuries? A female boxer killed?’
Posting a video of the fight today, Rowling added: ‘Watch this (whole thread), then explain why you’re OK with a man beating a woman in public for your entertainment. This isn’t sport. From the bullying cheat in red all the way up to the organisers who allowed this to happen, this is men revelling in their power over women.’
Italian Angela Carini (in the blue) threw in the towel after just two punches from her opponent Imane Khelif (pictured left)
The devastated Italian fighter (pictured moments before giving up) said she stopped the fight to protect her health
Beaten boxer Carini, 25, wept as she fell to her knees after the farcical contest as the Italian police officer yelled: ‘This is unjust.’
After the match was stopped, the referee raised Khelif’s hand in the air. But a visibly furious Carini – who is a police officer in Italy – yanked her own hand away from the fight official and stormed off.
Ignoring the Algerian, the Italian fighter, 25, then plunged to her knees and burst into tears as she said she had never felt such strong blows in a contest before.
Speaking after the match, the heartbroken Italian said: ‘I’m used to suffering. I’ve never taken a punch like that, it’s impossible to continue. I’m nobody to say it’s illegal.
‘I got into the ring to fight. But I didn’t feel like it anymore after the first minute. I started to feel a strong pain in my nose. I didn’t give up, but a punch hurt too much and so I said enough. I’m leaving with my head held high.’
Continuing her attack on the IOC, Davies – who has previously lashed out over transgender athletes competing against biological women – said she was ‘so angry’ at Olympic bosses for allowing Thursday’s clash from happening.
‘The IOC are negligent in their duty of care to female boxers,’ the former swimmer wrote on X.
Italy ‘s Angela Carini,25, dropped to her knees in tears after losing the fight to her Algerian opponent Imane Khelif in just 46 seconds
Khelif is seen shouting in the ring during her controversial clash with the Italian
Carini appeared distraught speaking to the press following the boxing match
‘Knowingly putting males with a huge advantage in the ring with females. These males have been tested & banned by two boxing federations for having XY chromosomes. Its beyond belief but nothing the IOC does fails to disappoint me these days.’
Carini later revealed she had thrown in the towel to ‘safeguard my life’ amid fears her opponent – who was thrown out of last year’s world championships after failing testosterone tests to establish her gender – would cripple her.
‘I couldn’t carry on,’ the devastated Italian added. I have a big pain in my nose and I said, ‘Stop’. It’s better to avoid keeping going. My nose started dripping from the first hit.
‘You need maturity even in this and it’s fine like this. I wanted to go the last kilometre for my father, but I couldn’t make it.
‘I said to myself, for the experience I have and the maturity as a woman I’ve got, I told myself, to my country and my dad, not to be mad at me. But I stopped fighting I said ‘stop’ for myself.
‘It could be the match of my life but, in that moment, I had to safeguard my life, too. I felt to do this, I didn’t have any fear, I don’t have any fear of the ring or to get hit.
‘I fought very often in the national team. I train with my brother. I’ve always fought against men, but I felt too much pain today.’
Asked why she knelt at the end of the match, she said: ‘It’s for my father. I am sorry not to have taken Italy on to the podium.’
Social media erupted as people took to blast the Olympics following the fight
After the fight, the Algerian Boxing Federation gloated about Khelif’s victory, posting on Facebook: ‘Congratulations to the Algerian boxer Iman Khalif, who responds strongly in the ring and qualifies for the quarterfinals, after defeating the Italian Angelina Carini in less than 46 seconds, effortlessly.’
But others condemned the IOC, and branded the fight – potential one of the most controversial in Olympic history – a ‘s***show’.
Comic actor James Dreyfus wrote: ‘What I saw: a woman getting hit SO hard, in head, by a man, that she wisely chose to stop it because she KNEW if she didn’t she’d be seriously injured or worse.
‘Blood, swear, tears, training, dreams… shattered. The ABSOLUTE STATE of this @iocmedia.’
Gender-critical author Julie Bindel added: ‘I am sobbing watching this. And I have seen a LOT of male violence against women. It is particularly distressing because I didn’t think men’s violence could be any further normalised and legitimised. That is what this s***show is.’
