J.K. Rowling and Elon Musk are among the high-profile names condemning the Olympics for allowing Algeria’s Imane Khelif to compete in the women’s boxing competition at the Paris 2024 games. Khelif was disqualified from last year’s Women’s World Championships after she failed a gender eligibility test due to elevated levels of testosterone in her system.
At the Paris Olympics, Khelif’s boxing match against Italy’s Angela Carini ended in 46 seconds after Carini decided to bow out of the fight after taking some punches from Khelif. Carini fought back tears as she ended the match and later told the BBC: “It could have been the match of a lifetime, but I had to preserve my life as well in that moment.”
“Could any picture sum up our new men’s rights movement better?” Rowling wrote on X while sharing a picture of Carini in tears and Khelif trying to comfort her after the match was cut short. “The smirk of a male who’s 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.”
Musk shared a post from swimmer Riley Gaines that claimed “men don’t belong in women’s sports.” The X owner co-signed the message by writing: “Absolutely.”
The Olympics has stood by its decision to allow Khelif, who was born female, to compete in the women’s boxing competition, saying: “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, that they are female.”
Carini told press that she would not criticize Khelif’s placement in the women’s competition, 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 judgements.”
Khelif’s next boxing match at the Paris Olympics will be against Hungary’s Anna Luca Hamori.
Could any picture sum up our new men’s rights movement better? The smirk of a male who’s 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. #Paris2024 pic.twitter.com/Q5SbKiksXQ
— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) August 1, 2024