Paris. Taiwanese Lin Yu-ting, one of two boxers at Paris 2024 embroiled in a gender-based controversy, secured an Olympic medal with a resounding victory in the 57kg quarter-finals on Sunday.
Lin, who has secured at least one of the two bronze medals awarded in Olympic boxing, defeated Bulgarian Svetlana Staneva by unanimous decision in the ring at the Paris Arena North.
Despite her opponent’s aggressiveness, who used a very offensive strategy, Lin maintained her composure and fought patiently, waiting for her opportunities to strike and taking advantage of Staneva’s progressive fatigue.
“Today I secured a medal against a very respectable opponent,” said the Taiwanese as she stepped out of the ring. “Winning this match doesn’t mean I can relax, of course. I need to improve myself at every step to defeat all my rivals and get the gold,” she added.
The participation in Paris 2024 of Lin and Algerian Imane Khelif, who also qualified for the semi-finals in the 66kg category, has generated a huge media and political stir after they were disqualified from the women’s World Championships last year for failing a gender eligibility test, the details of which have not been made public.
The suspensions were decided by the International Boxing Association (IBA), which was denied the right to organise the Olympic tournament by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) due to a lack of transparency.
Images of Algerian Khelif’s victorious debut against Italian Angela Carini sparked a firestorm on social media on Thursday, with a legion of users questioning whether the African boxer is a woman, while conservative political figures such as Italian President Giorgia Meloni, her Argentine counterpart Javier Milei, and former US President Donald Trump railed against the IOC’s authorization for Khelif and Lin to compete in Paris.
Social media blackout
The IOC has staunchly defended the participation of female boxers, none of whom have identified as transgender.
IOC President Thomas Bach himself said on Saturday that “there has never been any doubt that they are women.”
The leader considered that the attacks that the female boxers received on social media are a “hate speech” that is fueled by a political “agenda.”
“A lot of people cheered me on in Paris and also in my country,” Lin said Sunday, adding that he was not following the controversy on social media.
“I received a lot of messages of support. I didn’t read them because I turned off my social media. I will carry this strength to the end,” said the Taiwanese who, like Khelif, competed at the Tokyo 2020 Games without reaching the podium.
Lin and Staneva knew each other well as they were also rivals in the quarter-finals of the 2023 World Cup, with another victory for the Taiwanese.
Lin’s subsequent disqualification from the World Championships meant her bronze medal went to Staneva.
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– 2024-08-04 19:47:54
