Gender row boxer Lin Yu-ting WINS controversial Olympics 2024 semi-final after being given warning from referee
GENDER ROW Olympic boxer Lin Yu-ting booked her spot in the gold medal match at the Paris Olympic Games after a points win over Turkey’s Esra Yildiz Kahraman.
The controversial Taiwanese fighter, 28, had already guaranteed bronze with a unanimous decision victory over Bulgaria’s Svetlana Staneva on Sunday.
But she will now pick up at least silver after beating Yildiz, 27, comfortably over three rounds.
The final, which will take place on Saturday, will also include one of the Philippines’ Nesthy Petecio or Poland’s Julia Szeremeta.
Lin was disqualified from last year’s World Championships in New Delhi after failing gender eligibility tests, as was Algeria’s Imane Khelif.
The IBA claimed she showed increased levels of testosterone and male XY chromosomes – however, these results have not been fully verified and the IOC declared both boxers are eligible to fight.
Several sport and media figures including Piers Morgan have spoken out against Khelif, claiming she should not be allowed to compete.
IOC President Thomas Bach defended the inclusion of the two athletes.
He said: “We have two boxers who are born as a woman, who have been raised as a woman, who have a passport as a woman and who have competed for many years as a woman.
“This is the clear definition of a woman. There was never any doubt about them being a woman.”
Piers Morgan has his say
This is a more complicated case than the barrage of shameful transgender scandals which have engulfed women’s sport in recent years.
Khelif reportedly has a condition called Swyer Syndrome which means she has some female reproductive organs but also much higher levels of testosterone than women.
As a result, she has a superior physicality to females, which can be seen by her tall, powerful frame.
In other words, she has an unfair advantage.
And that’s why there’s been such a furious response, led by JK Rowling, Elon Musk, and Martina Navratilova, to the footage of Carini quitting after being smashed in the face.
The obvious, indisputable, medical, and scientific, truth is that someone born with male biology of any kind has an obvious physical advantage over biological females.
That’s why we keep the sexes apart in the Olympics.
Otherwise, women would barely win a single medal.
To pretend otherwise is to be either utterly deluded or wilfully dishonest.
Lin received a warm reception as she made her ring walk with a host of empty seats inside Court Philippe-Chatrier – a vastly different atmosphere from the raucous scenes for Khelif.
And the action inside the ropes was far different, too.
Lin certainly did not have things all her own way in a low-quality opening round which saw Lin thrown to the floor by a Yildiz headlock.
Surprisingly, the five judges all gave round one to Lin before the pair exchanged some big hits in the second, seemingly willing to forego any sense of defence to throw as many punches as possible.
Lin blatantly struck her opponent on the back of the head and was rightly given a stern warning by the referee, as the Parisian crowd whistled and jeered, but again the five judges sided with the Taiwanese fighter to be in complete control going into the final round.
There, it was more of the same with Lin’s technique and movement just too much for the Turk to handle.
So there was absolutely no doubt of the result as Lin breezed to her third successive unanimous points victory.
Olympics gender controversy
THE International Olympic Committee (IOC) stirred up a huge controversy by clearing two women to box who had previously failed a gender test.
Algeria’s Imane Khelif and Taiwan’s Lin Yu-ting were disqualified at the Women’s World Championships in New Delhi, India, in March 2023.
Lin Yu-ting was stripped of a bronze medal after failing a gender eligibility test.
Khelif was disqualified in New Delhi for failing a testosterone level test.
Officials found tests showed they had ‘XY chromosomes’ — which indicates a person is biologically male.
Rare ‘intersex’ medical conditions, medically known as differences in sexual development (DSDs), can also mean outwardly female individuals can have ‘male’ chromosomes, or vice versa.
The Russia-led International Boxing Association organised that event but is no longer recognised by the IOC.
IOC spokesman Mark Adams said: “These athletes have competed many times before for many years, they haven’t just suddenly arrived – they competed in Tokyo.
“The federation needs to make the rules to make sure that there is fairness but at the same time there is the ability for everyone to take part that wants to. That is a difficult balance.
“In the end the experts for each sport are the people who work in that. If there is a big advantage that clearly is not acceptable, but that needs to be a decision made at that level.”
Both Khelif and Lin competed at the delayed Olympic Games in Tokyo in 2021. Lin is a two-time winner at the Asian Women Amateur Boxing Championships.
The IOC said all boxers in Paris “comply with the competition’s eligibility and entry regulations”.
The controversy follows the famous case of Caster Semenya.
South African middle-distance runner Semenya has a condition which means her body naturally produces higher levels of testosterone than normal for women.
She won gold in the 800m at London 2012 and Rio in 2016 but was unable to compete at Tokyo in 2021 after World Athletics brought in new rules independently of the IOC at the time.