Algerian welterweight boxer Imane Khelif has been front and center over the past few days after several people raised an objection to her win against Italy’s Angela Carini, who abandoned her fight with Khelif at the women’s welterweight boxing tournament in the 2024 Paris Olympics.
After giving up the fight just 46 seconds into the bout, she said that she had never been punched so hard. Questions regarding Khelif’s gender and eligibility have since been raised, but they have been addressed by the International Olympic Committee (IOC).
Khelif moved on to beat Hungarian Anna Luca Hamori in a unanimous decision on Saturday, guaranteeing a bronze medal at the very least. However, Kansas City Chiefs owner Clark Hunt’s wife, Tavia Hunt, was not too pleased with the result.
Tavia posted an Instagram story on Monday, August 5, propagating a false rumor that both Khelif and Taiwan’s Lin Yu-ting are biological men. In the story, Tavia wrote:
“Protect women. Save women’s sports.”
Both Khelif and Lin won their quarterfinal fights and are assured of a medal. However, both women were subjected to online abuse after some unsubstantiated claims on their gender went viral.
The IOC has cleared both women to compete, and dismissed the former tests and disqualification done by the International Boxing Association (IBA) last year. These tests were deemed “arbitrary.” In a statement made by IOC spokesperson Mark Adams regarding the issue of Khelif, he said:
“[Khelif was] born female, was registered female, lived her life as a female, boxed as a female, has a female passport.”
Carini has since apologized to Khelif for her initial reaction and the aftermath it caused. In an interview with SNTV on Sunday, Khelif addressed the situation and urged the public to end the bullying that has been taking place. She said, in Arabic:
“I send a message to all the people of the world to uphold the Olympic principles and the Olympic Charter, to refrain from bullying all athletes, because this has effects, massive effects. It can destroy people, it can kill people’s thoughts, spirit and mind. It can divide people. And because of that, I ask them to refrain from bullying.”
Khelif also mentioned that both Carini and the Italian team have known her for years, and she believes that the complaints were done to smear what she has accomplished.
“The Italian boxer knows me well for years, as I have always gone to Italy to train as a member of the national team,” Khelif added in the interview with SNTV. “I trained with her and the coaches, who have known me since I was young. They used this campaign to try to weaken me.”
Patrick Mahomes’ mother Randi Mahomes takes a similar view to Tavia Hunt on Imane Khelif
Patrick Mahomes’ mom Randi made her stance on Khelif clear in a series of retweets on the social media platform X (formerly Twitter).
One of the posts said that Carini was “failed by the world” and the Italian boxer was crying due to the “horrible unfairness” of the turn of events that led to her abandoning the fight.
This is Angela Carini. We say HER name. This is the woman boxer who was failed by the world.
She isn’t crying because she lost. Boxers don’t cry. She is crying due to the horrible unfairness of it all.
I cry with her. #IStandWithAngelaCarini. Say it with me!! pic.twitter.com/ePr7Ux9HKh
— Jennifer 🟥🔴🧙♀️🦉🐈⬛ 🦖 (@babybeginner) August 1, 2024
In a similar vein to Tavia’s post, Randi reposted another tweet that called for people to “save women’s sport.”
A number of NFL stars also picked the same side in the Olympics controversy. Saquon Barkley, Darius Slay and Sauce Gardner were among those who chimed in on the conversation through indirect posts and retweets.
