WATCH: Video of Angela Carini breaking down in tears on remembering late father after Paris Olympics qualification resurfaces after Imane Khelif bout

By Animesh Pandey

Modified Aug 02, 2024 08:37 GMT

Angela Carini of Italy was all tears after the controversial bout with Imane Khelif at the Paris Olympics. After a couple of punches, the Italian puglist refused to fight against the trans athlete from Algeria, who was allowed to participate at the Paris Olympics despite being disqualified earlier by the IBA from the World Championships over the gender status.

Angela Carini's decision has led to immense criticism for the organizers of Paris Olympics from all corners. However, a video resurfaced recently has went viral on the social media, where the Italian boxer spoke on competing in the Paris Olympics after qualifying for it.

As shown in the video, Angela Carini showed the media a video of her late father's conversation, saying:

"I want to show you something. I don't know if you can hear, but he's my father." [Translated via @libsoftiktok on X]

Carini broke down into tears, but somehow composed herself as she further mentioned:

"I did 'the last kilometre' because one day I felt tired, before Tokyo I felt tired. I said, 'Dad, I'm tired, my training is intense, but I won't give up.' " [Translated via @libsoftiktok on X

Angela Carini had made it to the Paris Olympics through to honor the wishes of her late father. However, her dreams were shattered by Imane Khelif, for which both the Algerian boxer and the organizers of Paris Olympics are subject to massive criticism on social media.

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Angela Carini on abandoning the match against Imane Khelif

Angela Carini of Italy sinks to her knees after her defeat at the Paris Olympics [Image Source: Getty]

Carini was competing against Imane Khelif in the pre-quarterfinals of the women's 66kg event at Paris Olympics.

However, in the first few exchange of punches, Angela Carini of Italy had decided that enough was enough. In less than 50 seconds, she called it quits and refused to compete against Khelif. She didn't even shake hands with the Algerian after the referee formally raised Imane Khelif's hands to indicate Imane Khelif's victory against Carini.

The Italian later recounted why she was compelled to do so. As per her interview with the media,

"I felt a severe pain in my nose, and with the maturity of a boxer, I said 'Enough', because I didn't want to, I didn't want to, I couldn't finish the match." [via Associated Press]

For those unversed, Imane Khelif was disqualified from the 2023 World Boxing Championships, along with Lin-yu Ting from Taiwan by the IBA, over their gender eligibility. Yet, the IOC allowed the two to participate.

However Angela Carini simply refused to get into the politics further. She said that she wasn not qualified to decide whether Khelif should be allowed to compete or not. As she said,

"I just did my job as a boxer. I got into the ring and fought. I did it with my head held high and with a broken heart for not having finished 'the last kilometer'." [via Associated Press]

Meanwhile, Imane Khelif of Algeria has made it to the quarterfinals. Anna Luca Hamori of Hungary will be competing against the Algerian puglist on August 3.