PARIS, France (AFP) — American sprinter Sha’Carri Richardson blasted into the Paris Olympics on Friday, as a row grew over the gender eligibility of two women boxers.

Richardson eased through her 100 metres heat, making an untroubled Olympics debut to applause from the crowd at the Stade de France.

The reigning world champion, aiming to regain the 100m title for the US for the first time since Gail Devers won in 1996, clocked 10.94sec.

The fireworks are sure to come when 24-year-old Richardson — the favourite for gold — returns for the semi-final and final on Saturday.

As the track and field programme started, the women’s boxing competition was mired in a deepening row over two boxers who failed gender eligibility tests last year.

Algerian Imane Khelif took just 46 seconds to overwhelm her battered and distraught Italian opponent Angela Carini on Thursday, and the images of the fight triggered a worldwide reaction.

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said the bout was “not on an equal footing.”

After US presidential candidate Donald Trump weighed in on his Truth Social network on Thursday, his running mate JD Vance described the bout as a “grown man pummelling a woman in a boxing match”.

Harry Potter author JK Rowling said on X, formerly Twitter, that the Paris Games would be “forever tarnished by the brutal injustice done to Carini”.

Khelif is one of two athletes competing in women’s boxing in Paris despite failing to meet the eligibility criteria for the world championships last year.

The other, Taiwan’s Lin Yu Ting, is to fight later Friday.

It is unclear why exactly the two women were barred from the world championships.

The International Boxing Association (IBA), which organised that competition but has been barred from running the Olympics programme due to governance concerns, said the athletes “did not undergo a testosterone examination but were subject to a separate and recognised test.”

However, the “specifics” of this test “remain confidential.”

Khelif’s profile on the Paris 2024 media information site initially said she had been disqualified over “elevated levels of testosterone” but this was later removed.