Battle heats up tempers

J.K. Rowling on Olympic turmoil: “A disgrace!”

J.K. Rowling (right) suffers with Angela Carini.(Bild: AFP/Tolga Akmen, MOHD RASFAN)

There is still a great deal of excitement surrounding Algerian boxer Imane Khelif's admission to the Olympics. Despite elevated testosterone levels, she is allowed to compete in Paris - to the great annoyance of "Harry Potter" author J.K. Rowling. The Brit suffers with Khelif's opponent Angela Carini: "A young female boxer has just had everything she worked and trained for taken away from her because they allowed a man to get into the ring with her."

Boxer Imane Khelif won her round of 16 match at the Summer Games in Paris on Thursday after just 46 seconds. Her Italian opponent Angela Carini complained of pain in her nose after a few punches and gave up in tears: "I couldn't breathe."

"Everything was just taken from her"
In the heated debate about Khelif's Olympic eligibility, J.K. Rowling has now also spoken out. The fact that Khelif is allowed to take part is a "disgrace", she complains via X and shares a post featuring Kirsty Burrows, the head of the Safe Sport Unit at the IOC.

"Paris 2024 will forever be tainted by the brutal injustice done to Carini," the writer can't believe it.

"Stop this shit"
 After Austria's former boxing figurehead Marcos Nader had already voiced harsh criticism to krone.at ("This is a catastrophe for sport, a huge outrage!"), Germany's former world champion Regina Halmich also had strong words to say. "What do I think about a biological man boxing against a woman at the Olympic Games? I could explain it in detail now, but I don't feel like it. I'll keep it short and sweet: don't do that shit," she clarifies in an Instagram video.