Paris 2024, Psychiatrist on Angela Carini’s Withdrawal. “Controversies Influenced Reaction, Like Prophecy”

Paris 2024: Psychiatrist, ‘Controversies Influenced Angela Carini’s Reaction, Like a Prophecy’

“What preceded the meeting between boxers Imane Khelif and Angela Carini generated a lot of controversy which, in some way, influenced what was then a sensational outcome. Because after a handful of seconds, the withdrawal is an absolutely escape reaction. While it is expected that an Olympic athlete also has training to resist”. This is the reflection that, to Adnkronos Salute, makes psychiatrist Claudio Mencacci, president of the Italian Society of Neuropsychopharmacology (Sinpf) after the almost immediate withdrawal (45 seconds into the first round) of 25-year-old Italian boxer Angela Carini on the ring at the Paris 2024 Olympics.

“What we have seen – continues Mencacci – is sensational because, beyond the merits of the controversies, in that type of sport one expects resistance, even to pain, which allows her to endure the race at least for longer periods of time. It was a bit like a sort of anticipation of the self-fulfilling prophecy, that is, the idea of ​​an unequal clash, a condition that should not have occurred and that occurs in the space of a few handfuls of seconds. It therefore seems more an effect of what preceded it rather than of the collision itself”.

“The reaction of our athlete that we saw is not only that of the defeated, it is the reaction of someone who releases an enormous tension that had evidently been generated outside the meeting. That is, it is a result distorted by what happened before, outside the ring”, concludes Mencacci.

Paris 2024: Sports doctor, ‘for Carini an unequal fight, a match like this is unthinkable’

“Maybe I’m starting to get too old to see certain things, in my time all this would have been unthinkable. It may be a step forward for the Olympic Committee to have the Algerian intersex boxer Imane Khelif participate, but for our Angela Carini it was an unequal fight. which goes against the principles of equality between athletes participating in a sporting event, especially an Olympics”. This is what Adnkronos Salute said sports doctor Mario Brozzi, who intervenes in the controversies before and after the match that saw him win Imane Khelif after the abandonment of the Italian boxer Angela Carini in the first round of the match valid for the Paris Olympics 2024.

“I don’t question the Algerian boxer’s skill – Brozzi points out – but each of our physiques are marked by genetics, biomechanical characteristics, strength and dexterity are different in women than in men. There is a gap that is narrowing in some sports disciplines, I’m thinking of women’s football, but – observes the expert – it remains in other sports such as boxing. We saw it in the shot hit by Khelif against Carini, the speed and power surprised those who watched the match. Do we have to get used to all this? Today – he concludes – there is a hint of amazement and closeness to our athlete Carini who will feel inferior and mortified, but we saw a boxing match that went against Olympic principles. This is not a criticism of the Algerian athlete, but until yesterday all this was unthinkable in sports medicine.”