J.K. Rowling Misgenders Female Olympian as Boxing Controversy Unfolds in Paris

Controversy has been sparked after the fight between Italian boxer Angela Carini and Algeria’s Imane Khelif ended after just 46 seconds on Thursday.

Imane Khelif and Angela Carini in the boxing ring on Thursday. Courtesy of Getty Images

The fight between Italian boxer Angela Carini and Algeria’s Imane Khelif ended after just 46 seconds on Thursday when Carini broke down in tears and abandoned the bout, later telling reporters: “I was told a lot of times that I was a warrior but I preferred to stop for my health. I have never felt a punch like this.”

It has sparked controversy at the Paris Olympics as Khelif is one of two boxers permitted to fight at the Games despite being disqualified from the women’s world championships in 2023 for failing testosterone and gender eligibility tests.

Far-right Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni told Italian media: “It matters to be able to compete on equal grounds and from my point of view it was not an even contest.” Carini, however, said to reporters after the match: “I wish her to carry on until the end and that she can be happy … I am not here to judge or pass judgment. If an athlete is this way, and in that sense it’s not right or it is right, it’s not up to me to decide.”

Social media users and famous faces including Elon Musk, Logan Paul and Piers Morgan are now weighing in to talk about the “fairness” of letting Khelif compete, with many seeming to believe she is a man. But Khelif was raised and identifies as a female, and is not transgender. Athletes with Differences of Sexual Development (DSD), where some people are raised as female but have XY chromosomes — leading to blood testosterone levels in the male range — are currently allowed to compete in women’s competition at the Olympics.

Among those misgendering Khelif is J.K. Rowling, a staunch critic of aspects of the transgender movement. The author attached a photo of Khelif smiling at her opponent after the match and wrote: “Could any picture sum up our new men’s rights movement better? The smirk of a male who knows he’s protected by a misogynist sporting establishment enjoying the distress of a woman he’s just punched in the head, and whose life’s ambition he’s just shattered.”

Rowling also wrote to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to say its safeguarding is “a joke.” She wrote, “A young female boxer has just had everything she’s worked and trained for snatched away because you allowed a male to get in the ring with her.”

On Thursday, the IOC’s spokesman Mark Adams was asked about the fallout. “I repeat that all the competitors comply with the eligibility rules,” he said. “But what I would say is that this involves real people. And, by the way, this is not a transgender issue. I should make this absolutely clear.”