JK Rowling slams 'bullying cheat' after Olympic boxer who previously failed gender test beats opponent in seconds
1 August 2024, 15:28 | Updated: 1 August 2024, 15:40
JK Rowling has hit out at Olympics organisers after a boxer who previously failed a gender test was allowed to compete against a female fighter and won in just 46 seconds.
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Italian Angela Carini ended her 66kg clash with Algerian Imane Khelif after just 46 seconds, when two punches saw her helmet dislodged.
Carini refused to shake hands with Khelif after the fight, as she wept on the canvas with a possible broken nose.
Her coach said: "She felt pain in her nose and said to me 'I don't want to fight anymore'."
Addressing the incident, JK Rowling said the win was a "brutal injustice", adding that the International Olympic Committee's (IOC) safeguarding "is a joke".
She called for the IOC to "end this insanity" after it emerged that two boxers who had previously failed gender eligibility tests had been allowed to participate.
Read more: Olympics LIVE: silver and bronze medals for Team GB's rowers
Could any picture sum up our new men’s rights movement better? The smirk of a male who’s knows he’s protected by a misogynist sporting establishment enjoying the distress of a woman he’s just punched in the head, and whose life’s ambition he’s just shattered. #Paris2024 pic.twitter.com/Q5SbKiksXQ
— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) August 1, 2024
The gender-critical author initially said in a post on Wednesday: "What will it take to end this insanity? A female boxer left with life-altering injuries? A female boxer killed?"
On Thursday, she posted a video of the fight, adding: "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."
Meanwhile, Olympian Sharron Davies criticised organisers for "allowing women to be beaten up by men".
The fight itself had already been controversial - Khelif, who is 5ft 10, was one of two women boxers cleared to compete after being disqualified from last year's World Boxing Championships in New Delhi.
The Algerian was disqualified for failing to meet the necessary gender eligibility criteria.
The president of the International Boxing Association (IBA) said that his association "uncovered athletes who were trying to fool their colleagues and pretended to be women" using DNA tests.
Umar Kremlev said that the DNA tests "proved" that these boxers "had XY chromosomes and were thus excluded from the sports events."
Speaking after Thursday's match, Carini said: "I have always honoured my country with loyalty.
"This time I didn't succeed because I couldn't fight anymore. So I put an end to the match."
Her coach told reporters afterwards: "I don't know if her nose is broken. I have to speak with the girl.
"But many people in Italy tried to call and tell her: 'Don't go please: it's a man, it's dangerous for you."
Algeria's Olympic Committee has called the criticism of Khelif "baseless", and the boxer was welcomed the ring by cheers from Algerian fans.
