Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni slammed the International Olympic Committee (IOC) for allowing athletes who failed gender testing to still compete in the women’s medal competitions. “With these testosterone levels, this is not an equitable competition,” the Italian populist leader said during a televised press scrum. “Athletes with masculine attributes shouldn’t be allowed in women’s competitions.”
Meloni’s remarks come after controversy swept the 2024 Paris Olympics when Italian boxer Angela Carini quit her boxing bout against Algerian transgender Imane Khelif after just 46 seconds in the ring.
The National Pulse reported on Thursday that Carini said the blows from the biological male Algerian boxer “hurt too much.” Additionally, it appears her coaches viewed the match as being too physically dangerous for the Italian woman.
A couple of punches to the head and it’s all over. /2 pic.twitter.com/6egSrRj51s
— FairPlayForWomen (@fairplaywomen) August 1, 2024
“I went into the ring to fight. I didn’t give up, but a punch hurt too much,” Carini said. She was struck twice by the Algerian man, with the second blow appearing to dislodge her helmet, and retreated to her corner. Reports indicate she said she had never been hit so hard and may have suffered a broken nose.
During Meloni’s remarks with the media, she specified that banning biological males from women’s sports is “[n]ot because we want to discriminate against anyone, but to protect the rights of female athletes to compete on equal terms.”
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Italian PM Giorgia Meloni criticises the Paris Olympics:
“With these testosterone levels, this is not an equitable competition. Athletes with masculine attributes shouldn’t be allowed in women’s competitions.” pic.twitter.com/zW71FC23N8
— Visegrád 24 (@visegrad24) August 1, 2024
