The Italian Olympic boxer who quit 46 seconds into a bout with Algeria's Imane Khelif, triggering a heated gender controversy, apologized to her opponent and said she would now "embrace" her, according to reports.
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Green (R-Ga.), Donald Trump and his running mate J.D. Vance have all attacked the poweful Khelif for being allowed to compete against a woman even though the International Olympic Committee has said Khelif was born a female and has completed for years as a woman — including in the 2020 Olympics, where she lost the the quarterfinals.
The controversial, banned International Boxing Association, however, claimed Khelif had failed an unspecified eligibility test to compete last year over elevated levels of testosterone, the Associated Press reported.
A bloodied Italian boxer Angela Carini quit less than a minute into the opening round of her fight in Paris on Thursday after being pummeled by Khelif. Carini threw off her headgear and declared: "This is unjust."
Carini said afterward that she had never been hit as hard as she was by Khelif, who identifies as a woman.
She apologized to Khelif — who secured an Olympic medal Saturday after a boxing match — during an interview with Italian media on Friday.
"All this controversy makes me sad," Carini said. "I'm sorry for my opponent, too. ... If the IOC said she can fight, I respect that decision."
Carini said it was wrong to not shake Khelif's hand after the bout.
"It wasn't something I intended to do," Carini said, the Associated Press reported.
"I want to apologize to her and everyone else. I was angry because my Olympics had gone up in smoke. I don't have anything against Khelif. Actually, if I were to meet her again I would embrace her," Carini continued.
The bout unleashed a firestorm of controversy over Khelif's biological identity and resurrected questions over fairness and gender in athletic competition, with some calling the Algerian a "biological male."
IOC spokesperson Mark Adams said Friday that Khelif was "born female, was registered female, lived her life as a female, boxed as a female, has a female passport," AP reported.
The IOC also released a statement addressing the "misleading" information about Khelif.
"We have seen in reports misleading information about two female athletes competing at the Olympic Games Paris 2024," the IOC said in a statement posted on X about Khelif and Taiwanese boxer Lin Yu-Ting.
"The two athletes have been competing in international boxing competitions for many years in the women's category, including the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020, International Boxing Association (IBA) World Championships and IBA-sanctioned tournaments," read the IOC statement.
