After Italian boxer Angela Carini was powerfully punched twice by an Algerian boxer in the Paris Olympics who had previously been barred from fighting women, she stopped her bout 46 seconds in and broke down in tears, saying she had never been hit so hard.

Carini, 25, was fighting Algerian Imane Khelif, who was disqualified from the women’s World Championship in 2023 after failing testosterone and gender eligibility tests. International Amateur Boxing President Umar Kremlev asserted that DNA tests had “proved they had XY chromosomes and were thus excluded.”

In Carini’s match against Khelif, one punch “dislodged her chinstrap and a second smashed against her chin and bloodied her shorts,” The Guardian reported.

IOC allowed this male boxer to fight a woman. He won. Fight abandoned after 46s /4 pic.twitter.com/YwUfZQ6ssb

— FairPlayForWomen (@fairplaywomen) August 1, 2024

“I want to show you something. I don’t know if you can hear; he’s my father,” Carini said in tears after the match, holding up a phone to show a photo of her father. “I did the ‘last kilometer’ because one day, I felt tired. Before Tokyo, I felt tired. I said, ‘Dad, I’m tired, the training is intense, but I won’t give up.’ He said to me, ‘Angelina, a champion is a bit like cycling; the champion, when they see the last kilometer, you know what they do? They pedal even harder. So you reach that last kilometer and pedal. Go all the way, because I’ll always be with you.’ And so I did. Until the end, I fought with blood in my eyes because I wanted this victory at all costs just for my father.”

“I am heartbroken,” Carini said. “I went to the ring to honor my father. I was told a lot of times that I was a warrior but I preferred to stop for my health. I have never felt a punch like this. …  I got into the ring to fight. I didn’t give up, but one punch hurt too much and so I said enough. I’m going out with my head held high.”

“I wanted this victory at all costs. Just for my father.”

Italian boxer Angela Carini emotionally discusses winning for her late father after securing a spot at the Paris Olympics.

She just forfeited her match against Imane Khelif, who is male. pic.twitter.com/zypHELjldX

— Steve McGuire (@sfmcguire79) August 1, 2024

“After the second punch, after years of experience, I felt a strong pain in the nose. I said enough, because I didn’t want,” she continued. ”I couldn’t finish the fight after the punch to the nose. So it was better to put an end to it. I am in pieces because I am a fighter; they taught me to be a warrior. I have always tried to behave with honor; I have always represented my country with loyalty. This time I didn’t manage to because I couldn’t fight anymore. Regardless of the person I had in front, of me, which doesn’t interest me, regardless of all the row, I just wanted to win. I wanted to face the person that I had in front of me and to fight.”

“I am not one that gives in easily,” Carini said when asked if she should have eschewed fighting the Algerian. “No, even if they had said that we wouldn’t fight, I would never have accepted it. I have a warrior’s mentality. This time I didn’t manage. I felt too much pain on my nose. I said enough. It’s not a defeat for me, for me if you go in the ring you have already won, regardless of everything else. I’m not here to judge. It’s not up to me to say if it’s fair or not fair. I just did my job. I managed to leave with my head held high. I’m a mature woman, when I feel I cannot continue, it’s not giving in, it’s having the dignity to say enough. I was convinced I would win, I was concentrated, serene. But these punches to the nose hurt, I said enough.”

“I am here for gold,” Khelif told the BBC. “I will fight anybody. I will fight them all.”

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni reacted, “I think that athletes who have male genetic characteristics should not be admitted to women’s competitions. And not because you want to discriminate against someone, but to protect the right of female athletes to be able to compete on equal terms.  I was emotional yesterday when she wrote ‘I will fight’ because the dedication, the head, the character, surely also play a role in these things. But then it also matters to be able to compete on equal grounds and from my point of view it was not an even contest.”