evidence: VILLEPINTE, France (AP) — Algerian boxer Imane Khelif has landed in the middle of a divide about gender in sports after her Italian competitor, Angela Carini, pulled out seconds into their bout at the Paris Olympics. Outcry has come from conservatives like former U.S. President Donald Trump and Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni. Khelif was disqualified from the 2023 world championships after failing unspecified and untransparent eligibility tests for women’s competition from the now-banned International Boxing Association. READ MORE: What is the IBA? Governing body behind Olympic boxing storm has Russian ties, troubled history Khelif was assigned female at birth and it says so on her passport, which is the International Olympic Committee’s threshold for eligibility for boxing because of the rift between the sport’s governing body and the IOC. Khelif is a formidable athlete with respected fighting skills, contending in top international events — including major amateur boxing tournaments over the past six years, such as the Tokyo Olympics. She’s won a few regional gold medals. But Khelif was decidedly not known as a dominant champion, an overpowering force or even a particularly hard puncher at her weight — not until this week in Paris.