BOXER Angela Carini stopped her controversial fight with Imane Khelif after just 46 seconds - and said she feared for her life.
Carini, 25, took a pair of shots to the face from Khelif, who last year failed a gender test, before abruptly choosing to end the contest.
The Naples-born star did not acknowledge her opponent after the 66kg welterweight bout, as Khelif tried to approach her.
She then fell to her knees and burst into tears.
Khelif, 25, is one of two athletes who have been cleared to compete in the women's boxing, having been disqualified from last year's Women's World Championships for failing to meet eligibility criteria.
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) said Khelif was disqualified in New Delhi for failing a testosterone level test.
Taiwan's Lin Yu-ting was stripped of a bronze medal at the World Championships in March 2023, after failing a gender eligibility test.
However featherweight Lin has been cleared to take on Sitora Turdibekova on Friday.
Italy's family minister Eugenia Roccella and sports minister Andrea Abodi had earlier raised concerns about the eligibility rules at Paris, as have some of the boxers in the women's competition.
After today's fight, a spokesperson for the Italian team revealed that friends and family had told Carini not to take to the ring at all.
And her coach said: "I don’t know if her nose is broken. I have to speak with the girl. But many people in Italy tried to call and tell her: "Don’t go please: it’s a man, it’s dangerous for you."
Carini's tears continued as she spoke to the press after the bout.
Speaking in Italian, Carini revealed that she had "never felt a punch like it".
She added that she was there to "honour her father and represent her country" - and that she felt "heartbroken".
Carini then revealed: "After the second one (punch landed) I couldn't breathe anymore.
"I went to my coach and said 'enough' because it takes maturity and courage to stop. I didn't feel like fighting anymore."
Admitting her fears for her own safety, she later added: "It could be the match of my life but, in that moment, I had to safeguard my life, too. I felt to do this, I didn't have any fear, I don't have any fear of the ring or to get hit."
She would not be drawn on the gender row, but added: "The decision was with the Olympics rather than me, whether this opponent should fight."
Khelif, meanwhile, was marched through the mixed zone without speaking to the press.
Prior to the contest, the Algerian Olympic Committee (COA) had defended Khelif's participation.
Their statement read: "COA strongly condemns the unethical targeting and maligning of our esteemed athlete, Imane Khelif, with baseless propaganda from certain foreign media outlets."
It went on to add: "Such attacks on her personality and dignity are deeply unfair, especially as she prepares for the pinnacle of her career at the Olympics.
"The COA has taken all necessary measures to protect our champion."
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni claimed that it was "not a fight among equals".
She said: "I think that athletes who have male genetic characteristics should not be admitted to women's competitions.
"And not because you want to discriminate against someone, but to protect the right of female athletes to be able to compete on equal terms."
Last year's World Championships, from which Khelif was banned, was organised by the International Boxing Association (IBA).
But with the Russian-led IBA no longer recognised as boxing's world governing body by the IOC, Khelif was eligible to compete in Paris.
The IBA was stripped of its world governing body status by the IOC last year.
In a statement released earlier this week, the IBA claimed: "The IOC's differing regulations on these matters, in which IBA is not involved, raise serious questions about both competitive fairness and athletes’ safety."
Former Team GB swimmer Sharron Davies responded to the incident on social media, writing: "I’m so angry at the IOC they learn nothing from history or science and women continually pay the price."
THE International Olympic Committee (IOC) stirred up a huge controversy by clearing two women to box who had previously failed a gender test.
Algeria's Imane Khelif and Taiwan's Lin Yu-ting were disqualified at the Women's World Championships in New Delhi, India, in March 2023.
Lin Yu-ting was stripped of a bronze medal after failing a gender eligibility test.
Khelif was disqualified in New Delhi for failing a testosterone level test.
Officials found tests showed they had 'XY chromosomes' — which indicates a person is biologically male.
Rare 'intersex' medical conditions, medically known as differences in sexual development (DSDs), can also mean outwardly female individuals can have 'male' chromosomes, or vice versa.
The Russia-led International Boxing Association organised that event but is no longer recognised by the IOC.
IOC spokesman Mark Adams said: "These athletes have competed many times before for many years, they haven't just suddenly arrived - they competed in Tokyo.
"The federation needs to make the rules to make sure that there is fairness but at the same time there is the ability for everyone to take part that wants to. That is a difficult balance.
"In the end the experts for each sport are the people who work in that. If there is a big advantage that clearly is not acceptable, but that needs to be a decision made at that level."
Both Khelif and Lin competed at the delayed Olympic Games in Tokyo in 2021. Lin is a two-time winner at the Asian Women Amateur Boxing Championships.
The IOC said all boxers in Paris "comply with the competition's eligibility and entry regulations".
The controversy follows the famous case of Caster Semenya.
South African middle-distance runner Semenya has a condition which means her body naturally produces higher levels of testosterone than normal for women.
She won gold in the 800m at London 2012 and Rio in 2016 but was unable to compete at Tokyo in 2021 after World Athletics brought in new rules independently of the IOC at the time.
