It's not that Algerian boxer Imane Khelif doesn't look like a woman — this is the Olympics, not a beauty contest.
It's that Khelif doesn't punch like a woman, either — at least judging by Italian boxer Angela Carini's reaction after Khelif hit her in the face with a punishing straight right. Just 46 seconds into the bout, Carini gave up.
Carini was in severe pain, but she wasn't injured. This was a pre-emptive decision for her own safety. Khelif hit with a power that Carini had never faced from any other female opponent in her boxing career.
Now, maybe Khelif is simply that talented and Carini just a sore loser who met her match.
But the news that Khelif had previously been disqualified from last year's world championships after unspecified sex testing by a different regulatory authority, the International Boxing Association, certainly raises suspicions — suspicions that won't be allayed any time soon. The IBA isn't allowed to reveal the tests it based the disqualification on. And the media instantly paints any attempts to pursue the issue as ideologically motivated — a "transvestigation," if you will.
Making this a "trans" issue is disingenuous; ironically, activists refuse to admit that Khelif could be one of those rare cases in which sex really is on a spectrum: those classified as intersex or as having differences in sex development. In these cases, even a person with XX chromosomes could have significantly more testosterone than other women, providing a distinct physical advantage.
Carini and other female athletes like her deserve clarity on this issue.
In the meantime, the spectacle of Carini's despair in defeat remains haunting. It's the despair of someone denied the chance to prove herself in fair competition.
It's this image that dissident artist Sabo highlights in his latest work, seen above. A biting commentary on what gender ideology has done to girls' and women's sports.
Meanwhile, having already clinched a bronze medal, Khelif continues to tear through the competition. Khelif will face Thailand's Janjaem Suwannapheng late this afternoon in the semifinals.
Evangelical leaders are selling out to the LGBTQ agenda, and Daily Wire reporter Megan Basham, who just released her new book “Shepherds for Sale: How Evangelical Leaders Traded the Truth for a Leftist Agenda,” has the receipts.
“You have organizations that claim to be ministries that are taking funding from secular, left-wing, gay lobbying groups,” Basham tells Allie Beth Stuckey on “Relatable,” noting that the Arcus Foundation is one of them.
The Foundation was founded in 2000, and it’s the country’s largest LGBTQ grant maker.
“What that foundation started to do, the Arcus Foundation, was look at, ‘Okay, how can we reform church doctrine in conservative ministries and in conservative denominations,’ and that’s what they did,” Basham says.
“They’re bringing this curriculum in,” she continues. “I think a lot of churches don’t realize that activists are being trained to come change your doctrine on this.”
Stuckey knows of one pastor in particular who’s embraced this change, referencing a recent sermon pastor Andy Stanley gave.
“He basically said that homosexuality is different than any other sin because saying that homosexuality is a sin is saying that who someone is is a sin,” Stuckey says. “Which is a completely unbiblical way to look at sexuality and identity.”
A more widely known name has also been pushing a left-wing agenda on the church.
That name is George Soros.
“His foundation started funding a secular-left immigration NGO called the National Immigration Forum, and around 2013, 2015, they realized that they needed to move the evangelical vote on this particular issue if they wanted to get some of these immigration reform policies, what I would call very lax border policies, across the finish line,” Basham tells Stuckey.
So, they partnered with the National Association of Evangelicals and launched what Basham calls a “front group”: the Evangelical Immigration Table.
“Its purpose, to be very clear, is not to do things like spread the gospel to illegal immigrants. It’s not to feed and clothe people regardless of how they got there,” Basham explains. “It’s specifically policy-focused.”
Groups like the ERLC and the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities have also been heavily involved in these groups.
“They all became involved with this group,” Basham continues, “that is under the umbrella of a secular left immigration NGO that is taking funding from people like George Soros in this program that was specifically designed to target conservative voters, specifically evangelical.”
To enjoy more of Allie’s upbeat and in-depth coverage of culture, news, and theology from a Christian, conservative perspective, subscribe to BlazeTV — the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America, defend the Constitution, and live the American dream.
A female Olympic boxer threw in the towel after just 46 seconds into her fight Thursday after determining her opponent — who's been mired in a gender controversy — was hitting her too hard.
Italy's Angela Carini took a punch from Algeria's Imane Khelif in the women's 66-kilogram division — and then Carini signaled to her corner that she was done.
After Carini, 25, abandoned the fight, and Khelif's hand was being raised in victory, Carini was seen breaking down in tears and falling to her knees before eventually leaving the ring.
'She quit after taking one punch; she told me she didn't feel she could fight.'
Carini and her coach spoke to Italian press agency ANSA after the match to explain what happened.
"I got into the ring to fight," Carini said. "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," she added.
Her coach Emanuele Renzini said Carini hadn't planned ahead of time to forfeit the match.
"It would have been easier not to show up, because all of Italy had been asking her not to fight for days," Renzini said. "But Angela was motivated and wanted to do it."
He added, "Of course, when she met her opponent at the draw, she said 'it's not fair.' But there was no premeditation here today. She quit after taking one punch; she told me she didn't feel she could fight."
As Blaze News previously reported, the International Boxing Association disqualified Khelif at the 2023 world championships. IBA President Umar Kremlev said at the time that Khelif had "XY chromosomes." Males have XY chromosomes; females have XX chromosomes.
But the International Olympic Committee decided to drop the IBA as a governing body in June 2023 and put the IOC's Paris 2024 Boxing Unit in charge. The Paris Boxing Unit's rules have been described as more relaxed. The Guardian reported that the IOC noted Khelif's disqualification in its internal system, saying the fighter was "disqualified just hours before her gold medal showdown against Yang Liu at the 2023 world championships in New Delhi, India, after her elevated levels of testosterone failed to meet the eligibility criteria."
Khelif reportedly blamed a "conspiracy" against Algeria as the reason for any gender-related accusations.
"People have conspired against Algeria so that its flag doesn't get raised, and it doesn't win the gold medal," Khelif said.
The Algerian Olympic Committee also weighed in, calling claims surrounding Khelif's gender "baseless," according to Fox News.
"COA strongly condemns the unethical targeting and maligning of our esteemed athlete, Imane Khelif, with baseless propaganda from certain foreign media outlets," the committee said on Wednesday. "Such attacks on her personality and dignity are deeply unfair, especially as she prepares for the pinnacle of her career at the Olympics. The COA has taken all necessary measures to protect our champion."
ANSA cited a gay-centric Italian communications company that claimed Khelif actually is "intersex" and not transgender.
"In contrast to the reports that have been circulating, the Algerian athlete Imane Khelif is not a trans woman," said Rosario Coco of Gaynet Communications. "From the information we have about her, she is an intersex person who has always socialized as a woman and has a sporting history in women's competitions."
Khelif isn't the only fighter surrounded by this type of controversy in the women's boxing category.
Lin Yu‑ting of Chinese Taipei (Taiwan) will fight Uzbekistan's Sitora Turdibekova in the 57 kg round of 16 Friday.
The IOC said that Lin was "stripped of her bronze medal" in 2023 at the world championships "after failing to meet eligibility requirements based on the results of a biochemical test."
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