Franco Carraro is outspoken about Imane Khelif

Franco Carraro è outspoken about Imane Khelif

Former Coni president Franco Carraro has his say on Algerian boxer Imane Khelif, who was engulfed in controversy during the Paris 2024 Olympics over her high testosterone level. "I say she has been fighting for eight years. There’s no doubt that the Algerian boxer’s somatic features are markedly masculine, but remember the main character in Luchino Visconti’s Death in Venice? Well that ephebic little boy also looked like a woman".

"There are people who live in masculine or feminine bodies despite being a woman and a man, respectively, and in sports they have the right to compare themselves with those of their own gender", Carraro continued in an interview with Avvenire.

Khelif won the gold medal after clearly beating a number of opponents, starting with Azzurra Angela Carini, who withdrew after less than a minute. "Then I feel sorry for Angela Carini, that punch on the nose must have hurt her a lot to leave the match won by Khelif, but accepting defeat before the strongest è one of the indispensable rules of sport", concluded Carraro.