Algeria’s Imane Khelif (left) fights Italy’s Angela Carini in their preliminary round women’s 66 kg boxing match at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Thursday, August 1, 2024, in Paris, France.
11:53 JST, August 4, 2024
VILLEPINTE, France (AP) — The banned International Boxing Association wants to give a $50,000 prize to Italian boxer Angela Carini, who left her opening bout against Algeria’s Imane Khelif at the Paris Olympics with tears in her eyes after just 46 seconds.
IBA President Umar Kremlev made the announcement in his latest video, in which he strongly criticized the International Olympic Committee. The International Olympic Committee suspended his organization’s Olympic recognition before the Tokyo Games and banned the organization from the Olympic movement altogether last year.
Kremlev also said he plans to award $25,000 to Italy’s national federation and $25,000 to Carini’s coach after her dramatic opening-round elimination to Khelif. The IBA alleges that Khelif failed an unspecified gender identity test at her world championships last year, and it has caused a global outcry over the presence of Khelif and Taiwan’s Lin Yu-ting in the women’s Olympic boxing tournament.
“I couldn’t bear to watch her tears,” Kremlev said of Carini. “I am not indifferent to such situations and I can assure you that we will protect every boxer. I don’t understand why they are killing women’s boxing. Only suitable athletes should compete in the ring for safety reasons.”
The IOC has repeatedly said that Khelif and Lin meet the requirements for Olympic participation. Both boxers competed in IBA tournaments for years before they were abruptly disqualified in New Delhi last year.
The IBA announced last month plans to award $3.1 million in prize money to medalists in Paris — even though the IBA no longer has anything to do with Olympic boxing. The IOC and IBA have clashed for years over the IOC’s concerns about the IBA’s governance, financial transparency and fairness.
It is unclear whether Carini and the Italian Boxing Federation would accept the IBA’s money, or even which Italian federation the IBA hopes to reward. The press release did not specify that.
Italy’s official national federation last month joined World Boxing, the breakaway umbrella organization that is trying to keep boxing in the Olympics. World Boxing has 37 members and hopes to add many more before the IOC deadline early next year so the sport can rally behind a new umbrella organization to keep its place on the Olympic program.
The IBA lists another Italian national federation — the Federacione Pugilistica Italiana — among its members on its website. Many countries have multiple amateur boxing federations.
