‘Everything’s gone crazy’ – Vucic on Olympics boxing row

The Paris Olympics 2024 have thrown up some baffling viral moments, including a singing transsexual smurf committing acts of blasphemy, the world’s most nonchalant sharpshooter and athletes throwing up after swimming in the Seine. Speaking of insane, 2024 is also the year that domestic violence became an Olympic sport.

Algerian boxer Imane Khelif was given the go-ahead to compete in the women’s event, and left female opponent Angela Carini crying on the floor in excruciating pain after mere seconds in the ring. Khelif had previously been disqualified from competing for having XY chromosomes and a normal testosterone level for a male. Khelif, however, has always lived life as a woman, and Algerian authorities attest that Khelif suffers from hyperandrogenism and is, despite the tests, female.

The fallout over the bout, which was over in just 46 seconds, has been immense. Women’s rights campaigner JK Rowling said the Olympics ‘will be forever tarnished by the brutal injustice,’ while YouTuber-turned-boxer Jake Paul called it ‘sickening’ and ‘a travesty’. Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic has been one of the few world leaders to speak out about the match, saying that ‘she was punched by a man, a biological man, who now has the right to compete in the Olympic Games as a woman. Madness has taken over the world. Everything's gone crazy.’