What Olympic rules around gender actually were after 46-second-fight caused controversy

One of the most hotly-debated moments from this year's Olympic Games saw Italian boxer Angela Carini throw in the towel in her fight against Algeria's Imane Khelif after as little as 46 seconds.

Bursting into tears and refusing to shake her opponent's hand, Carini, 25, could be heard shouting out to judging officials, claiming the match was 'not fair'.

Carini's comments led to a colossal gender row. (Fabio Bozzani/Anadolu via Getty Images)

It didn't take long for organisers to realise the Italian sportswoman was referring to Khelif's prior disqualification from the World Boxing Championships, after she failed a gender eligibility test.

Despite being born female, International Boxing Association (IBA) president Umar Kremlev previously said that the unspecified test reportedly showed Khelif to have the XY chromosome.

Another of this year's Olympians, Taiwanese athlete Lin Yu-ting was tragically disqualified under the same grounds.

In the days that followed Carini's claims, a harmful discussion surrounding gender rights in competitive sport ensued between spectators, competitors and organisers, sadly throwing 25-year-old Khelif into the focus.

Prior to the commencement of this year's games in Paris, however, both the Algerian and the Taiwanese sportswomen received full support from the International Olympic Committee (IOC), who deemed the pair eligible and stood behind their right to compete.

Khelif was previously disqualified from international competition. (Richard Pelham/Getty Images)

As such, many spectators were left baffled as to what are the guidelines surrounding gender eligibility actually are, and why they're necessary in the first place.

It's first necessary to explain that, generally, the IOC provide a framework to international federations that look after each sport.

In this case, this would have been the International Boxing Association (IBA), had it not been denied the right to run the Olympic boxing by the IOC due to various alleged issues, as reported by Reuters.

Prior to this, however, when the IBA did have control of the world championships and gender eligibility rules, Khelif was stripped of her bronze medal, which she won in March 2023, after reportedly failing a test.

The IBA further told The Guardian that the decision was made 'following a comprehensive review and was intended to uphold the fairness and integrity of the competition'.

Taiwanese athlete Lin Yu-ting was previously disqualified on the same grounds. (Ulrik Pedersen/DeFodi Images via Getty Images)

Whilst supporting Khelif this year, however, IOC spokesperson Mark Adams told press:

"I would just say that everyone competing in the women’s category is complying with the competition eligibility rules.

"They are women in their passports and it is stated that is the case."

He also lifted the lid on the 'criteria' which had seen Khelif previously eliminated, claiming that there had been some 'misreporting' on this subject.

He explained that it 'was not a transgender issue', as 'these women have been competing as women for many years', adding: "What I would say just quickly on testosterone is, the testosterone (test) is not a perfect test.

"Many women can have testosterone, even what would be called 'male levels' and still be women and still compete as women.

Adams continued: "So this is not a panacea − this idea that suddenly you test, do one test for testosterone. Each sport needs to deal with this issue but I think we agreed, I hope we're agreed, we're not going to go back to the bad old days of 'sex testing'.

Khelif was later deemed eligible for competition by the IOC. (Richard Pelham/Getty Images)

"That would be a bad idea."

Adding that rules within the women's category are 'complex', Adams stated that should be up to the sport to make a decision rather than the IOC, The Guardian reports.

Not too long ago, the NCAA required transgender female athletes to have undergone one year of testosterone suppression, but has since faced pressure to change the guidelines since the NAIA banned all transgender athletes from competing in women's sports.