J.K. Rowling has come out swinging against the International Olympic Committee for allowing Algerian boxer Imane Khelif to participate in the women’s competition at the Paris 2024 Games.
As RadarOnline.com reported, Khelif was initially disqualified from the 2023 World championships, along with Taiwanese boxer Lin Yu-Ting. Both athletes reportedly failed gender eligibility tests at the time, but were later cleared to fight.
Khelif’s match opposite Italy’s Angela Carini lasted only 46 seconds, after Carini took some powerful punches to the face. Carini could be seen fighting back tears as she ended the match.
In an interview with the BBC, she said: “It could have been the match of a lifetime, but I had to preserve my life as well in that moment.”
She did, however, tell the press following the match she would not “judge” Khelif, saying: “I wish her to carry on until the end and that she can be happy. I am someone who doesn’t judge anyone. I am not here to give judgments.”
However, Rowling, who has been very vocal about her views on the transgender community, stepped into the fray following the match.
The Harry Potter author posted a photo of Khelif and a visibly distraught Carini after the match on X, writing: “Could any picture sum up our new men’s rights movement better? The smirk of a male who knows he’s protected by a misogynist sporting establishment enjoying the distress of a woman he’s just punched in the head, and whose life’s ambition he’s just shattered.”
Meanwhile, Elon Musk, whose daughter is transgender reposted on his own site a tweet from swimmer Riley Gaines in which she stated: “Men don’t belong in women’s sports.”
After the Algerian was disqualified from the World Championships last year, Brianda Tamara posted on X about her experience fighting Khelif, saying: ‘When I fought with her I felt very out of my depth, Her blows hurt me a lot. I don’t think I had ever felt like that in my 13 years as a boxer, nor in my sparring with men. Thank God that day I got out of the ring safely, and it’s good that they finally realized.”
In allowing Khelif and Yu-ting to to compete at the Olympics, the IOC issued the following statement: “All athletes participating in the boxing tournament of the Olympic Games Paris 2024 comply with the competition’s eligibility and entry regulations, as well as all applicable medical regulations in accordance with rules 1.4 and 3.1 of the Paris 2024 Boxing Unit.”
The boxing competition was organized by the PBU, which is an ad-hoc unit established by the IOC’s Executive Board.
The IOC statement added: “The PBU endeavored to restrict amendments to minimize the impact on athletes’ preparation and guaranteeing consistency between Olympic Games.”
IOC Spokesman Mark Adams said in a video address: “They are women in their passports and it’s stated that is the case.”
Khelif’s next match at the Olympics will be against Hungary’s Anna Luca Hamori.
