The controversy surrounding gender eligibility in boxing at the Paris Olympics is set to continue, with another boxer facing eligibility issues scheduled to compete on Friday.
Lin Yu-ting from Taiwan, a two-time world champion, is set to follow Imane Khelif as she makes her second Olympic appearance against Sitora Turdibekova from Uzbekistan in the 57-kilogram category.
Algerian fighter Khelif has ignited a global discussion after her opponent, Italy’s Angela Carini, withdrew just 46 seconds into their match on Thursday, claiming she had never endured such powerful hits in her career.
Both Khelif and Lin were deemed to have failed gender eligibility tests during the previous year’s world championships. Khelif, 25, possesses male XY chromosomes but does not identify as transgender. Both athletes are recognized as female in official documents.
Lin is ranked first in the women’s 57-kilogram featherweight category, granting her a bye in the initial round before her match with Turdibekova.
Lin Yu-ting of Taiwan fights Friday in Paris but failed a gender eligibility test last year
It follows Imane Khelif’s controversial win over Italy’s Angela Carini on Thursday
Lin secured the Asian Games title last year, which qualified her for the Paris Olympics. She achieved her initial world title in 2018 and was a youth world champion in 2013.
Both Khelif and Lin are seasoned Olympians, having competed in the Tokyo Games.
This week, the IOC firmly defended the boxers’ right to participate. Olympic boxing has reached gender parity for the first time in 2024, with an equal number of male and female competitors, 124 each.
‘Every participant in the women’s category adheres to the eligibility standards,’ said IOC spokesperson Mark Adams on Tuesday. ‘They are women in their passports, and it’s documented that they are female.’
‘These athletes have a long history of competition and haven’t just recently entered the scene.’
The IOC stated that eligibility determinations for boxers were made according to the gender-related guidelines applied during the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics.
Numerous sports have revised their gender eligibility protocols over the last three years, including World Aquatics, World Athletics, and the International Cycling Union, which last year refined regulations pertaining to athletes with differences in sex development.
The IOC oversees boxing in Paris because it has stripped the IBA of its Olympic status due to ongoing governance issues, a lack of financial transparency, and perceived corruption in judging and refereeing.
The IBA is led by president Umar Kremlev of Russia, who associated the organization with the Russian state-owned Gazprom as its main sponsor and relocated several IBA operations to Russia.
It was the IBA that disqualified both Ting and Khelif last year.
