UN official slams decision to allow Imane Khelif to compete in women’s boxing event despite eligibility row – with Algerian’s opponents ‘exposed to physical and psychological violence’ after Angela Carini quit in 46 seconds

A United Nations official has waded into the Olympics gender row after Italy’s Angela Carini quit her bout against Algeria’s Imane Khelif after just 46 seconds.

In a significant development Reem Alsalem, the UN special rapporteur on violence against women and girls, expressed her concern online.

Taking to X, she posted that Carini had ‘rightly followed her instincts and prioritised her physical safety, but she and other female athletes should not have been exposed to this physical and psychological violence based on their sex’.

Khelif is one of two boxers who have been cleared to compete in the women’s boxing in Paris, despite having been disqualified from last year’s Women’s World Championships when further tests were carried out which officials said deemed them biologically male.

At the welterweight clash at Paris’s Arena Nord on Thursday morning, Carini took two right-hands from her 25-year-old opponent, before telling her corner she wanted to stop. 

Carini was hit twice in the opening round before abandoning the contest after 46 seconds

The Italian boxer dropped to her knees after abandoning and was seen crying in the ring

UN official Reem Alsalem (left) took to X to blast the decision allowing Khelif to fight

Khelif’s participation in the event has been a source of controversy having been disqualified from the Women’s World Boxing Championships last year

Carini admitted before the fight that ‘she could ‘only adapt to the rules of the Olympics’

She later said that the second punch ‘hurt too much’ and that she stopped for her own safety.

Alsalem is a consultant on gender issues, the rights of refugees and migrants.