Michael Higgins: Olympics-sanctioned boxing brutality tarnishes games

One of the defining images of the Olympics should almost certainly be Italian boxer Angela Carini kneeling in a flood of tears in the ring, her nose possibly broken by an opponent previously banned from the world championships for failing a gender test. 

After the bout, which she pulled out of after all of 46 seconds, Carini told reporters through an Italian translator that she’d never “felt punches like it.” 

But the patronizing International Olympic Committee doesn’t believe we should even be discussing the eligibility of the other boxer, Algerian Imane Khelif. 

When questioned before the fight about the boxer’s eligibility, IOC spokesman Mark Adams urged the media to “dial it down” and not start some kind of “witch-hunt.” 

Adams wanted to end the controversy over Khelif and Lin Yu-Ting of Taiwan, another boxer at the Olympics who was banned from the Women’s World Boxing Championships last year, saying that it said, “women on their passports.”

But in this day and age that’s not good enough. 

Adams said the two boxers have been competing in the women’s sport for years and previously competed at the Olympics. 

But tests carried out by the International Boxing Association (IBA) now cast a giant shadow over the eligibility rules used by the IOC. 

In a statement Thursday, the IBA explained the two boxers were banned from the world championships after failing gender eligibility tests in Istanbul in 2022 and New Delhi in 2023. 

“The athletes did not undergo a testosterone examination but were subject to a separate and recognized 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,” said the statement. 

Lin did not appeal the decision and Khelif initially appealed but then withdrew it. 

Explaining the decision, IBA President Umar Kremlev is reported to have told Russia’s Tass News Agency, “Based on DNA tests, we identified a number of athletes who tried to trick their colleagues into posing as women. According to the results of the tests, it was proved that they have XY chromosomes. Such athletes were excluded from competition.” 

However, the IBA does not have standing at the Olympics. Still, such a momentous ruling surely should have given the IOC pause for thought. 

Apparently, not. 

The IBA ended its Thursday statement with a scathing indictment of the IOC. 

“While IBA remains committed to ensuring competitive fairness in all of our events, we express concern over the inconsistent application of eligibility criteria by other sporting organizations, including those overseeing the Olympic Games. The IOC’s differing regulations on these matters, in which IBA is not involved, raise serious questions about both competitive fairness and athletes’ safety,” it said. 

Reem Alsalem, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls, also waded in. 

“Angela Carini rightly followed her instincts and prioritized her physical safety, but she and other female athletes should not have been exposed to this physical and psychological violence based on their sex,” she tweeted. 

Even before the fight, the Italian government and the Italian Olympic Committee raised concerns.  

Italian news agency ANSA quoted Eugenia Roccella, the family and equal opportunities minister, as saying, “It is of great concern to learn that two transgender people, men who identify as women, were admitted to women’s boxing competitions at the Olympic Games in Paris after having been excluded from recent competitions. 

“It is surprising that there are no certain, strict, uniform criteria at the international level, and that there can be a suspicion, and far more than a suspicion, of an unfair and potentially dangerous contest for one of the contenders at the Olympics, an event that symbolizes sporting fairness.” 

Clearly, there is an issue here that needs to be discussed. But here’s the problem: too many people, including the IOC, don’t want to talk about it and would sooner see it brushed under the carpet. 

This is more about gender ideology than eligibility and that’s dangerous territory. Go against the cultural flow and you could get cancelled.  

Liberal MP Francesco Sorbara, commenting about the Carini fight, tweeted “Vergogna”, meaning “shame,” and added, “Awful!!!” But he quickly took the tweet down, fearing, no doubt, a possible backlash. 

Reading the headlines of some media, you wouldn’t even know there was controversy. 

“Algeria boxer wins first Olympic fight when opponent quits,” said Sportsnet. 

“Boxer Khelif through as opponent abandons in 46 seconds,” declared the BBC. 

It is tempting to call such headlines timid, when they are, in fact, cowardly. Self-censorship imposes an undignified silence on disputes better resolved by being brought out into the open. 

The decision by the IBA to ban the two boxers from the women’s world championships should have raised doubts in the minds of the IOC organizers about their own eligibility rules. 

But the high-mindedness of the IOC allowed for the barbarity of a boxing match on Thursday. 

For the safety of women, the controversy over men in female sports, or transgendered individuals, or intersex people, is a topic that needs to be discussed.  

Forget dialling this down, let’s dial it up. Don’t we owe female athletes that much? To at least talk about this? 

National Post