Boxing champion angered over Olympic gender controversy: 'Definitely dropped the ball'

An Italian boxer's decision to abandon her Olympic match against an Algerian fighter who was deemed to have male chromosomes has reinvigorated controversy around gender fairness.

A former Olympic boxing champion called out organizers for allowing the fight to even take place on "America's Newsroom" on Thursday.

"It is very hard to qualify for the Olympics," two-time Team USA Olympic gold medalist Claressa Shields said. 

"You have to go through so many different international tournaments, country tournaments to even make it to the Olympics. So, for me, I can understand her devastation. But it shouldn't be ruined due to a man. And I think that the Olympics definitely dropped the ball."

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Angela Carini of Team Italy reacts after abandoning the Women's 66kg preliminary round match against Imane Khelif of Team Algeria in the first round on day six of the 2024 Summer Olympics at North Paris Arena in Paris on Thursday. (Richard Pelham/Getty Images)

Algerian boxer Imane Khelif defeated Italy’s Angela Carini in Paris on Thursday after Carini abandoned the match 46 seconds after it began, saying afterward that one punch from Khelif "hurt too much" to continue.

"[At] my first Olympics, I was 17 years old, so I hadn't even fully developed as a woman, so I couldn't imagine getting inside the ring with a biological man," Shields said. 

"I don't even see how the Olympics done something like this."

Khelif fought under a firestorm of controversy regarding a failed gender eligibility test in 2023. DNA tests showed Khelif tested positive for having high levels of testosterone.

Algeria's Imane Khelif, left, fights Italy's Angela Carini in their women's 66kg preliminary boxing match at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris on Thursday. (AP Photo/John Locher)

"Based on DNA tests, we identified a number of athletes who tried to trick their colleagues into posing as women. According to the results of the tests, it was proved that they have XY chromosomes. Such athletes were excluded from competition," International Boxing Association president Umar Kremlev said. 

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Khelif and the Algerian Olympic Committee (COA) both denied the claims. The International Olympic Committee also cleared Khelif to compete in the Games.

Taiwan’s Lin Yu-Ting was also cleared to compete despite failing to meet gender eligibility standards alongside Khelif in 2023.

"It's just unfair. I just can't believe that it's being done, and I just couldn't imagine it happening to me," Shields said. 

Italy’s ANSA quoted Rosario Coco, the president of Gaynet Communications in Italy, as saying that he learned Khelif was intersex and not transgender.

"In contrast to the reports that have been circulating, the Algerian athlete Imane Khelif is not a trans woman," Coco told the news agency.

"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."

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Claressa Shields celebrates after defeating Savannah Marshall during their undisputed middleweight championship fight at The 02 Arena in London on Oct. 15, 2022. (Mark Robinson/Top Rank Inc via Getty Images)

Shields has vocalized her outrage against the decision to allow Khelif and Yu-Ting to compete in the Olympics, arguing athletes should compete against opponents of the same sex.

"I don't have anything against transgender women or transgender men. All I'm saying is men should fight against men, women should fight against women and transgenders should fight against transgenders," Shields stated.

Fox News' Ryan Gaydos contributed to this report.