Men, when given the green light to fight like hell, punch hard.
I am a man and I stayed away from a lot of fights because I know this much.
Fighting for flag and country though?
I guess there is a reason to connect what happened in the Opening Ceremony with the Olympics as a whole.
So the fight between Italy's Angela Carini and Algeria's Imane Khelif ended 46 seconds after Khelif struck Carini in the nose. Now, this is a boxing match. Of course, fighters have to strike people where it's legal.
Well, Khelif is a special case because she has a disorder of sex development. While she is not transgender, she has male chromosomes in her system.
And why the hell is this a thing for us Filipinos?
Well, it's because of Chinese Taipei's Lin Yu Ting.
She is in the same predicament as Imane Khelif...
... and she is in the same division as Nesthy Petecio.
I think for me though, the biggest concern is Petecio's next opponent. Amina Zidani is a 30-year-old fighter who took the bronze medal in the 2023 Women's IBA World Championships...
... and she is French.
In the same tournament, Petecio lost in her round-of-16 match against Venezuela's Omailyn Alcala. While Alcala lost her round-of-32 match against Poland's Julia Szeremeta, there are still a lot of landmines in the tournament like IBA silver winner Karina Ibragimova of Kazakhstan, the other bronze winner of the IBA tourney, Svetlana Staneva of Bulgaria, and Xu Zichun of China, who scored an upset against IBA gold winner and Tokyo Olympics bronze medalist Irma Testa of Italy.
And of course, Lin Yu Ting.
Lin should have been the bronze medalist of the IBA event, but due to her disqualification, the medal was awarded to Steneva, the woman she defeated in the quarterfinals.
Lin, who also drew a bye, is on the other side of Nesthy's bracket, with a possibility of a rematch with Steneva in the quarterfinals. Nesthy, if she wins against Zidani, will face the winner of the Xu Zichun versus Columbia's Valeria Arboleda Mendoza. This would lead to potential battles with Ibragimova, Szeremeta, Puerto Rico's Ashleyann Lozada Motta, and Australia's Tina Rahimi.
So again, why does this have to do with Nesthy?
At the moment, Nesthy is number 52 in the world. Testa is world number 1 with Ibragimova and LIN YU TING at number 2 and number 3, respectively. I know she's in a different bracket, but she's also a threat to win. If Lin for some reason gets the boot because of protest, then that side of the bracket is going to be easier. Staneva is also number 4, with Ireland's Michaela Walsh at 9, and Tunisia's Hlimi Khouloud at 25. They are all in the same bracket going to the finals.
Honestly, I am more concerned with the French lady than Lin because of the hometown calls. Again, the boxers may not be in on this, but this is one of the bonus points in staging a high-risk event like the Olympics. The fact that she knows how to win and she'll have the crowd on her side could either give her oomph or the super jitters.
Hopefully, it's the latter.
As for what Carini did, it felt like it was a super punch that forced her to abandon the match. I don't really know what to say about this because it's delving into the political side of the Olympics. Of course, the Algerians will cry foul with what the Western world is saying. Unlike the rich countries, boxers are training to give their family a better life. Like the story of Manny Pacquiao, most third-world fighters come from impoverished areas and see sports as a way to escape their hardships.
Italy has a delegation of 371 while Algeria has 45. This means possible life-changing rewards if an Algerian wins a gold medal. And even if they lose, getting this distinction means getting blacklisted for other sporting events. In some ways, this could be Khelif's swan song in boxing, especially with how people reacted to her.
In the Philippines, we have two cases that delved into such. Trackster Mona Sulaiman, a three-time gold medalist who got her haul in the 1962 Asian Games, chose retirement when asked to do a gender test. Meanwhile, Nancy Navalta lived her life as a female up until she was tested for hermaphrodism.
When a person is poor and has the potential to do well in a particular situation, the automatic response is to spam it until it runs out.
Since both Lin and Khelif's disqualifications happened in 2023, IBA had a year to investigate both fighters. While I don't know the shit between the IBA and the IOC, I know for a fact that the events have turned extremely political. The Algerian government is crying foul, while the Italian government calls this unfair. It has even come to the point of human rights activists applauding what Carini did.
I mean, if she had the go signal, why blame Khelif?
Again this situation is treading between racial discrimination and the right to fair play. It's even more difficult because Khelif is not just a man portraying to be a woman. Before this happened, she had competed in various amateur boxing tilts.
It's not like this is going to start a war but given this situation, the Olympic committee and the international governing bodies must unite to resolve these issues. If you think Paris is too woke, then what happens in four years when the Olympics is going to the United States? Los Angeles is in the heart of this movement and who knows if this is still going to be a thing at that point?
I know it's unfair to ban Khelif, but the same can be said with Sulaiman and most especially Navalta. At least Sulaiman had her time in the spotlight during the Asian Games. Navalta was supposed to be part of the Atlanta Olympics but was unable to join the delegation because she got tested almost six months before the 1996 event.
If it were me, the IOC should have banned the fighters from fighting for reasons that they need more tests to make sure they do not have a grave advantage against other women. If Carini felt the punch as if she was punched by a dude, then this is an unfair advantage. Discrimination takes a backseat to integrity if the IOC just followed what the IBA recommended.
So this brings me back to that interesting Opening Ceremony.
With how things are going, I think it's safe to say that the Olympic Committee should have handled things better.