21st CENTURY QUESTIONS: “A woman on her knees sobbing after being punched hard in the face by an opponent who has characteristics of a biological male. She may have a broken nose. Is this sport now? Is this the Olympic ideal?”
Because that is what we have just witnessed. This is apparently justifiable. Angela Carini, a world and European Championships silver medallist, pulled out of a fight with Algerian boxer Imane Khelif after 46 seconds.
I don’t know how she stepped in the ring in the first place. She is no fragile flower but she said she had never been hit so hard before. Through her tears she said she was there to honour her father, and she was a warrior but just had to stop.
On Monday, Theodore Dalrymple wrote, “Cultural Decay Can Hardly Go Further.” He was referring the opening of the Olympics, but that headline neatly sums up much of what we’ve seen afterward as well.