An Algerian boxer disqualified from the 2023 Women’s World Boxing Championship for failing a gender test needed less than a minute to prevail over an Italian woman at the Paris Olympics on Thursday.
Imane Khelif, who has been deemed to have XY chromosomes despite identifying and competing as a woman, overpowered Angela Carini in the 66-kilogram women’s division. Carini went to her cornermen to call off the fight after just 46 seconds before falling to her knees in tears and yelling “this is unjust.”
On Thursday’s show, Megyn was joined by Charlie Kirk of Turning Point USA to discuss the injustice and what it will take for women’s sports to actually be protected.
The Controversy
The 25-year-old Khelif is one of two boxers who have been cleared to compete in the Olympics despite being barred from similar international competition. Khelif and Lin Yu-Ting, 28, of Taiwan were disqualified from the 2023 Women’s World Boxing Championship in New Delhi, India, by the International Boxing Association (IBA) after chromosome testing came back XY.
“Based on DNA tests, we identified a number of athletes who tried to trick their colleagues into posing as women,” IBA president Umar Kremlev said at the time. “According to the results of the tests, it was proved that they have XY chromosomes. Such athletes were disqualified from competition.”
Even so, the IOC confirmed to NBC News on Tuesday that Khelif would be able to face off Thursday against Carini in the 66-kg weight category and Yu-ting will compete Friday in the 57-kg weight category because “all athletes participating in the boxing tournament of the Olympic Games Paris 2024 comply with the competition’s eligibility and entry regulations, as well as all applicable medical regulations.”
While the IOC updated its rules regarding gender eligibility to defer to each sport’s governing body, the IBA is not recognized as the governing body over Olympic boxing. Instead the so-called “Paris 2024 Boxing Unit” set the rules.
Some have speculated the athletes in question are ‘intersex’ due to a Difference of Sexual Development (DSD), though neither has ever claimed such. IOC spokesperson Mark Adams said in a press conference on Tuesday that Khelif and Yu-Ting’s passports identify them as women and they have previously competed against women – including at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics.
Megyn said it is irrelevant. “The splitting hairs around this person saying, ‘Well, you know, he has XY chromosomes, but I guess we can’t call him a man because he calls himself a woman.’ I don’t give a sh-t,” she said. “You have XY chromosomes; you are a man for athletic purposes and other purposes.”
Khelif vs. Carini
Thursday’s bout between Khelif and Carini was essentially over before it started. The 25-year-old Italian emotionally abandoned the fight after taking two punches to the face. She did not shake hands with her opponent in the ring.
After the match, The Daily Mail reported that Carini told the media she could not go on. “I’m used to suffering. I’ve never taken a punch like that. It’s impossible to continue,” she said. “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.”
While Carini said it was not her place to say if Khelif being allowed to compete was “illegal,” her coach made it clear that there was cause for concern going into the fight. “I don’t know if her nose is broken. I have to speak with the girl,” Emanuele Renzini said. “But many people in Italy tried to call and tell her: ‘Don’t go please: it’s a man, it’s dangerous for you.'”
Earlier this week, Khelif told Algeria’s Ennahar TV that the outrage is part of a “conspiracy” to deny the country a gold medal and was similarly defiant Thursday. “God willing, this was the first victory,” Khelif said after the fight. “God is willing me to the golden one.”
The Dangers
Megyn said the situation illustrates what she and others have been trying to warn about. “This is what female athletes are up against when the powers that be will not protect them,” she said. “Megan Rapinoe says it’s not happening… Why don’t you tell that to Angela Carini, who was literally brought to her knees and to tears? This poor boxer retreated to the corner yelling ‘this is unjust’ as her Olympic dream came crashing down thanks to a weak-kneed International Olympic Committee that allowed this to happen.”
She fears that it will take a tragedy for something to change. “These radical trans activists and those who support them are not going to be happy until a woman is dead,” Megyn said. “That’s what it’s going to take. A woman is going to have to die for people to see reason and logic.”
While Kirk believes it is ultimately going to be incumbent on the female athletes to take a stand and refuse to compete against men, he acknowledged the danger that exists in speaking up. “One of the reasons why news organizations [pander to trans activists] is because tech companies say we will not put your articles in search engine optimization if you misgender because it’s bullying and harassment,” he explained. “I lost my YouTube and all monetization for a year and a half over this very kind of conversation… I would not be able to do this segment on TikTok because of bullying and harassment.”
He said it forces the hand of content creators. “The trans zealots have captured the tech companies… and they then are able to have a downstream tributary effect of the monopolization of thought control through all these other news organizations,” Kirk noted. “I just want your audience to understand that there is a serious monetary implication here.”
Ultimately, Megyn has a message for the media and big tech: “I’m begging them to stop this. A woman is going to die. A girl is going to be killed. We have to stop this insanity,” she said. “Even if you are in favor of allowing biological males to compete against girls posing as women, you must allow us to say they are men. You must allow the platforming of he/him instead of she/her in the context of this discussion.”
“When somebody dies, these publications will have blood on their hands for continuing the madness, the lie, this subterfuge,” Megyn concluded. “These are not women. That is exactly the problem.”
You can check out Megyn’s full interview with Kirk by tuning in to episode 854 on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you like to listen. And don’t forget that you can catch The Megyn Kelly Show live on SiriusXM’s Triumph (channel 111) weekdays from 12pm to 2pm ET.