A distressed Carini was in tears after the fight, struggling to contain her emotions reliving a fight that she saw as an opportunity to honour her father.

“I have always honoured my country with loyalty,” Carini said in an interview translated and verified for this masthead by a native Italian speaker. “This time I didn’t succeed because I couldn’t fight any more. So I put an end to the match.”

One of the Italian coaches, when asked about Carini’s motives for abandoning the match, speculated that “people say don’t go, it’s dangerous, she’s a man. Maybe it’s this”.

Carini said she abandoned the match, “because after the second blow, after years of experience in the ring and a lifetime of fighting, I felt a strong pain in my nose and with the maturity of a fighter I said [I] could no longer finish the match.

“… I am heartbroken because I am a fighter, my father taught me to be a warrior.”

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Carini said the controversy surrounding Khelif and Lin did not play a part in her decision.

“I never cared, I went ahead and I just wanted to win,” she said. “… I am not here to judge or make judgments, I simply got into the ring to fight and fight for my dream, it did not happen ... I don’t feel like saying or giving answers about it. I said this blow to the nose, I hurt myself and I said enough.”

Khelif, who will square off against Hungarian Anna Luca Hamori in the next round, did not address the controversy after the fight.

“First, I thank all the Algerian people, after this first victory,” Khelif said. “I hope to achieve a second victory to secure a medal, and then think about the gold medal.

“I tell the Algerian people that I am working to provide the best I can in order to make them happy.”

The Algerian Olympic Committee issued a statement on Wednesday condemning what it termed “lies” and “unethical targeting and maligning of our esteemed athlete, Imane Khelif, with baseless propaganda from certain foreign media outlets”.

In a statement on Thursday, the International Boxing Association said of last year’s tests: “The athletes did not undergo a testosterone examination but were subject to a separate and recognised test, whereby the specifics remain confidential. This test conclusively indicated that both athletes did not meet the required necessary eligibility criteria and were found to have competitive advantages over other female competitors.

“The IOC’s differing regulations on these matters, in which IBA is not involved, raise serious questions about both competitive fairness and athletes’ safety.”

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Meloni, the Italian prime minister, said the rules must protect fair sport.

“I think that athletes who have male genetic characteristics should not be allowed to compete in women’s events, but not because you want to discriminate against anyone but to protect the right of female athletes to be able to compete on equal terms,” she told Italian media at Casa Italia in Paris.

IOC spokesman Mark Adams defended the rules on gender eligibility for the Olympics.

“This is not a transgender issue,” he said. “These women have been competing in competitions for many years.”