Italian female Carini (pictured) was mauled in the clash - which comes amid a gender row over her opponent, Khelif, who was banned from fighting at the world championships after being deemed 'biologically male'
The 25-year-old Algerian Khelif, one of two athletes thrown out of last year's world championships in New Delhi after failing to meet gender eligibility criteria, is now eyeing a dream gold medal after progressing to the quarter-finals with a win over Angela Carini.
But the triumph was marred by controversy, with "her" Italian opponent withdrawing in tears after just 46 seconds and telling her corner 'it's not fair.'
"She" was banned in New Delhi over elevated testosterone levels and XY chromosomes.
"Her" fight in Paris is set to go down as one of the most controversial in Olympic history and has thrown the Games into chaos amid a fierce backlash from the likes of JK Rowling, Olympian Sharron Davies and former Prime Minister Liz Truss.
During the fight, Carini was hit twice, suffered a broken nose and barely threw a punch before telling her corner: 'It's not fair.' She then sank to her knees, beat the canvas in frustration and refused to shake Khelif's hand.
After the one-sided 66kg category bout ended, Carini, also 25, said she quit the bout to 'save my life'.
The clash between Imane Khelif (left) and Angela Carini (right) lasted just 46 seconds, with the Algerian coming out on top
Khelif's participation in the event has been a source of controversy after "she" was disqualified from the Women's World Boxing Championships last year.
The Olympics website noted that Khelif had been disqualified hours before a gold medal bout against China's Yang Liu in New Delhi after her elevated levels of testosterone failed to meet the eligibility criteria.
During the 46 second fight, Carini was rocked by two punches from Khelif and said the savage force of the blows made it 'impossible to continue'.
Female Italian boxer Angela Carini (in the blue) says she stopped her Olympic bout against her 'biologically male' opponent Imane Khelif (right) to 'save my life'
With her Olympic dreams in tatters after just 46 seconds, the crestfallen Italian fighter Carini fell to her knees and wept
Speaking out following her loss, Carini revealed she quit to 'safeguard my life', adding: 'I couldn't carry on. I have a big pain in my nose and I said, 'Stop'. It's better to avoid keeping going. My nose started dripping from the first hit.
'It could be the match of my life but, in that moment, I had to safeguard my life, too. I felt to do this, I didn't have any fear, I don't have any fear of the ring or to get hit.
'I fought very often in the national team. I train with my brother. I've always fought against men, but I felt too much pain today.'
After the match was stopped, the referee raised Khelif's hand in the air. But a visibly furious Carini yanked her own hand away from the fight official and walked off.
Ignoring the Algerian, the Italian fighter then plunged to her knees and burst into tears as she said she had never felt such strong blows in a contest before.
Speaking after the match, the heartbroken Italian said: 'I'm used to suffering. I've never taken a punch like that, it's impossible to continue. I'm nobody to say it's illegal.
'I got into the ring to fight. But I didn't feel like it anymore after the first minute. I started to feel a strong pain in my nose. I didn't give up, but a punch hurt too much and so I said enough. I'm leaving with my head held high.'
The female Italian was left reeling from the cross by Algeria's Imane Khelif (in the red) - who was previously banned from the world championships for being 'biologically male'
Khelif is seen shouting in the ring during "her" controversial clash with the Italian
Khelif (centre) clashed with Carini in an Olympic welterweight bout
Carini appeared distraught speaking to the press following the boxing match
Carini added: 'I entered the ring and I told myself I have to take out all of myself independently from the person I had in front of me.
'And honestly, I don't care. I said to myself, 'This is my Olympics'. Independently, from all controversy, I just wanted to carry on and win.'
'I am not one that easily surrenders. Even if they told me, let's not fight, I would not have accepted it.
'I am a fighter. My father taught me to be a warrior. When I am in the ring, I use that mindset, the mindset of a warrior, a winning mindset. This time I couldn't make it.
'You all saw my nose that started bleeding. I didn't lose tonight, I just surrendered with maturity.'
'I simply entered the ring to fight and to fight for my dream. It didn't happen.'
'I did my job as a boxer, entering the ring and fighting. I didn't manage to, but I am exiting with my head held high and with a broken heart.'
'I am a mature woman, the ring is my life. I've always been very instinctive, but when I feel something is not going well, it's not a surrender but having the maturity to stop.'
Carini (right) refused to shake her opponent's hand after being declared the loser of the fight
Carini's coach in the mix zone after the fight said: 'Many people in Italy tried to call and tell her: 'Don't go please: it's a man, it's dangerous for you.'
Bosses at the IOC are now facing a furious backlash following the fight, with former Prime Minister Liz Truss blasting the clash.
The former Tory MP said: 'When will this madness stop? Men cannot become women. Why is the British Government not objecting to this?'
British Olympic hero Sharron Davies also waded into the controversy, raging: 'This is shocking. The IOC are a bloody disgrace. In effect legalising beating up females. This must stop!!! What the hell's the matter with them?'
While Harry Potter author JK Rowling branded the contest 'insanity'. The gender-critical author wrote: 'What will it take to end this insanity? A female boxer left with life-altering injuries? A female boxer killed?'
The author added: 'Explain why you're OK with a man beating a woman in public for your entertainment. This isn't sport. From the bullying cheat in red all the way up to the organisers who allowed this to happen.'
The Italian fighter (in the blue) refused the handshake and fell to the canvas and appeared to wipe away a tear. Winner Khelif is pictured in the red as "her" opponent leaves the ring
The controversial clash in the ring was over in less than a minute
Algeria's Imane Khelif (in red) leaves after "her" victory in this morning's Olympic boxing match
Carini is an Italian police officer with the Fiamme Oro.
Her mantra is: 'Boxing is a sport that teaches you to have respect for your opponent. It can be a weapon in life, but only for defence. It cannot and must not be used for abuse.'
Khelif was thrown out of last year's world championships after failing testosterone tests carried out to establish gender qualification.
But despite "her" gender test problems, "she" was admitted to the Olympics amid a huge furore.
Olympics officials at Paris 2024 have accepted "her" as a female and state so in "her" official games biography.
Another "female" boxer Lin Yu-ting of Taiwan was also disqualified from the 2023 women's boxing world championships for failing a gender eligibility test.
Former world featherweight champion Barry McGuigan - now president of the Professional Boxing Association - said it was a 'shocking' and 'pathetic' decision to allow 'a man' to fight women.
Umar Kremlev, president of the International Boxing Association (IBA) has said after a series of DNA-tests the association 'uncovered athletes who were trying to fool their colleagues and pretended to be women.
Kremlev claimed that the tests 'proved they had XY chromosomes and were thus excluded from the sports events.'
Italy's sports minister Andrea Abodi also raised concerns about Khelif competing.
Khelif, who competed at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, fell into controversy after failing the tests last year in New Delhi.
"She" received resounding applause from staunch Algerian supporters as she entered the ring, but there were several boos.
At 5'10 and two inches taller than "her" police officer opponent, Khelif showed off "her" power with a series of powerful punches early in the three round contest.
But it was over in less than a minute.
Italian officials had already protested the inclusion of the Algerian and Olympic officials were assessing how to deal with further controversies surrounding the Algerian as "she" fights "her" way towards a medal.
Carini's father also served in the police, but was injured in an accident when she was a toddler and had to use a wheelchair for the rest of his life.
Speaking in 2020, she said: 'My father is my hero. I am very attached to him, he taught me that in life you should never give up. And when I'm in the ring and the situation gets tough, I hear his example, I never give up.
'When he was paralysed I was only two years old. I grew up on his legs, he never made me miss anything. I have never seen him as a different father from the others, the chair on which he is sitting has never divided us, quite the contrary.'
Her father died in 2021, a few days after her Olympic debut at the delayed Tokyo 2020 Games, and she considered quitting the sport.
'I didn't want to box without my dad anymore. But I came back because I owe it to him. He has always been by my side and now we fight together.'
The clash comes amid a gender storm at the Olympics over 'biologically male' fighters competing in the female divisions.
IOC bosses overseeing the Olympics in Paris said Khelif met the eligibility criteria to compete - despite concerns of the boxer's biological sex.
After the disqualification, Mexico's Brianda Tamara came forward with her own experience of fighting Khelif earlier in the tournament.
'When I fought with "her" I felt very out of my depth,' she wrote on X. '"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.'
Also given the green light to fight is Lin Yu-Ting of Taiwan, who was also thrown out of the world championships amid questions about their sex.
According to feminist website Reduxx, both are thought both are impacted by a Difference of Sexual Development (DSD), a series of medical conditions identified at birth where genitalia is atypical in relation to chromosomes.
McGuigan is among those questioning the situation. 'It's shocking that they were actually allowed to get this far, what is going on?' he wrote on X.
Elsewhere, Nancy Hogshead – the American swimmer who won three golds at the 1984 Games, waded into the row, claiming that 'gender ideology will get women KILLED'.
Hogshead wrote: 'Imane Khelif of Algeria and Lin Yu-Ting of Taiwan are scheduled to compete in women's Olympic boxing – despite being disqualified last year for having XY chromosomes, the male phenotype. Let's remind ourselves that males – however they identify – pack a punch that is 162 per cent more powerful than women – THE biggest performance gap between men and women. Gender ideology will get women KILLED.'
'Men punching women is now officially an Olympic sport'.
The Olympic chiefs' decisions to ditch rules on gender testing for athletes have been branded 'crazy' by critics.
Carini (pictured) is pictured relaxing before her fight against the Algerian
The Italian fighter (pictured in an Instagram photo) said she had never experienced a punch so hard
The match has since plunged the Olympics into farce as a gender row threatens to explode at the Paris games (Carini is pictured)
Carini, 25, from Naples, Italy, lost her clash in less than a minute
DNA tests, which are compulsory for boxers, revealed the presence of XY chromosomes, typical of the male sex, in Khelif's DNA
Sports scientist Professor Ross Tucker said: 'Would you allow a 90kg fighter to fight against a 60kg fighter?
'Because that's more or less what the difference is in strength and power between male and female boxers.'
Tests on both Khelif and Yu-Ting revealed XY chromosomes in their systems.
Rare 'intersex' medical conditions, medically known as differences in sexual development (DSDs), can also mean outwardly female individuals can have 'male' chromosomes, or vice versa.
Sports scientists told MailOnline that an absence of clear policy by the Olympics in this area had allowed the bizarre situation to develop.
Prior to 2021, the IOC set thresholds for the maximum amount of testosterone — the 'male' sex hormone — competitors in women's events could have. These were picked up in blood tests, similar to ones for doping.
Khelif is seen landing a stiff jab on "her" Italian opponent during the opening round of the fight
Khelif's hand was not shaken by "her" Italian opponent, who walked away after the result was revealed
IBA (International Boxing Association) president, Umar Kremlev, said tests had proven that both Khelif and Lin 'had XY chromosomes'.
He added that they 'uncovered athletes who were trying to fool their colleagues and pretended to be women'.
Angela Carini of Italy after the Women's 66kg preliminary round match against Algeria's Imane Kheli
Khelif landed two devastating haymakers on Carini before the Italian gave up
Carini went to the ground and sobbed
Algeria's Imane Khelif (in red) pounding Angela Carini
Italian boxer Angela Carini said she had to quit her fight with Khelif to 'save my life'
JK Rowling said the fight was like 'watching a man beat a woman for entertainment'
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