IBA says it will award prize money to Italian boxer amid gender controversy at Olympics

PARIS — The International Boxing Association says it will award Italy’s Angela Carini $50,000 after the Italian boxer abandoned her bout against Algeria’s Imane Khelif at the Olympics.

The abrupt conclusion of the fight, which ended 46 seconds into the bout and with Carini in tears Thursday, inflamed controversy over gender eligibility that has ensnared Khelif at the Paris Games.

The Russian-backed IBA, which made the announcement of the award for Carini on Saturday, has helped stoke controversy over gender eligibility for the women’s boxing competition at the Olympics. Carini said after the fight that she got hit too hard by Khelif to continue.

"I couldn’t look at her tears," IBA President Umar Kremlev said in a press release issued by the IBA. "I am not indifferent to such situations, and I can assure that we will protect each boxer. I do not understand why they kill women’s boxing. Only eligible athletes should compete in the ring for the sake of safety."

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The IBA disqualified Khelif and Taiwanese boxer Lin Yu-Ting at the 2023 World Championships after it announced the boxers had failed gender eligibility tests.

The IOC has said Khelif and Lin have met all criteria to compete at the Olympics and accused the IBA of arbitrarily disqualifying the boxers at the 2023 World Championships.

"I will not confuse the two issues (transgenders and IBA's tests on the two boxers)," IOC President Thomas Bach said. "We are not talking about the transgender issue here. This is about a woman taking part in the women's category. This is not a transgender case. I have said it many times now. And I would like to ask, really, everyone, to respect these women, to respect them as women, as human beings. And not the confusion some apparently want to create around them."

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The IBA will award Carini as if she were an Olympic champion, with $50,000 going to each of the gold medalists, $25,000 to the silver medalists. The boxer’s coaches and the country’s federations also will receive money, totaling $100,000 per boxer, according to the IBA press release.

The IOC has said Khelif and Lin have met all criteria to compete at the Olympics and have accused the IBA of inflaming the situation by arbitrarily disqualifying the boxers at the World Championships.

Representatives of the Italian Olympic delegation did not immediately respond to a request for comment submitted by USA TODAY Sports via email.