Angela Carini to Receive Prize Money from IBA Despite Olympic Loss to Imane Khelif
The Italian pulled out in the first round against the Algerian amid a gender row at Paris 2024
Angela Carini to Receive Prize Money from IBA Despite Olympic Loss to Imane Khelif IBA to Award $50,000 to Angela Carini Despite Olympic Loss to Imane Khelif
The International Boxing Association (IBA) has announced that Italy’s Angela Carini will receive $50,000 in prize money, despite her loss to Algerian Imane Khelif in the welterweight round-of-16 at the Paris 2024 Olympics. Carini, who was knocked out of the bout after just 46 seconds in the first round, will also see her federation awarded an additional $25,000 and her coach another $25,000.
Carini withdrew from the fight early after taking several clean hits from Khelif. IBA President Umar Kremlev expressed his dissatisfaction with the state of women’s boxing, stating, “I do not understand why they killed women’s boxing. Only eligible athletes should compete for safety reasons. I could not watch her tears.”
Kremlev assured that the IBA will protect all boxers and emphasized that only eligible athletes should be allowed to compete. The IBA will also support Sitora Turdibekova following her loss to Lin Yu-ting of Chinese Taipei, who, like Khelif, was deemed ineligible by the IBA in 2023.
Despite being disqualified at the 2023 World Championships for failing IBA eligibility rules, Khelif and Lin were cleared to compete in Paris. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) had stripped the IBA of its status as boxing’s governing body last year due to governance issues and took over the oversight of boxing at Paris 2024.
The IOC criticized the IBA’s disqualification decisions as arbitrary. Italian Prime Minister Georgia Meloni met with IOC President Thomas Bach on Thursday regarding these issues.
The IOC’s eligibility rules, based on the Tokyo 2021 Games, were upheld, and changes to the rules could not be made mid-competition. Some sports have adjusted testosterone levels for women’s competition, but differences in sexual development (DSD) conditions, which involve varying genes, hormones, and reproductive organs, continue to be a point of contention.
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