Lin follows Khelif by winning gold amid controversy

An emotional Lin Yu-ting became the second boxer in 24 hours to win women’s Olympic gold despite the ongoing row over her gender eligibility.

The Taiwanese beat Polish 20-year-old Julia Szeremeta by unanimous decision to claim the featherweight title, a day after Imane Khelif became the welterweight champion.

Lin and Khelif have been allowed to compete in Paris despite being disqualified from last year’s World Championships after reportedly failing gender eligibility tests.

It was her fourth victory by unanimous decision from four in the competition after the 28-year-old, once again, dominated.

Lin entered the ring to loud cheers once again and there was no sign of protest from Szeremeta, as has come from some of Lin’s previous opponents.

Lin and Szeremeta shared an embrace after the result was confirmed.

The Taiwanese was then visibly emotional during the medal ceremony and afterwards was embraced by bronze medallist Esra Yildiz Kahraman.

After defeat by Lin on Thursday, Turkey’s Kahraman made an ‘X’ gesture to the crowd – said to be intended to represent female chromosomes – but both were smiling after their hug on the medal podium.

Lin’s victory signalled the end of one of the most controversial stories at this Olympics but the debate is likely to continue and could even impact whether boxing is even part of the next Olympics in Los Angeles.

Moments before Lin’s fight, a French lawyer had said he is representing Khelif in a legal complaint in France for online harassment over the issue.

Nabil Boudi said Khelif has decided to “begin a new fight, a fight for justice, dignity and honour”.

He said she has filed the complaint for “aggravated online harassment”.

How the controversy has played out

Lin and Khelif were banned last year by the International Boxing Association (IBA) who said the pair “failed to meet the eligibility criteria for participating in the women’s competition, as set and laid out in the IBA regulations”.

But the International Olympic Committee (IOC), which runs the boxing events at the Olympics, allowed them to compete, insisting Khelif and Lin were “born and raised as women”, and has strongly has criticised the IBA.

The IOC had previously suspended the Russia-led organisation over concerns around governance and regulation and has raised doubts about the tests.

The row erupted after Khelif’s first bout in which Italian Angela Carini abandoned after 46 seconds, saying afterwards she had to “preserve” her life.

As Lin and Khelif progressed with comfortable victories in the ring, a chaotic news conference held by the IBA last week did little to clear the confusion around their bans.

Chief executive Chris Roberts said the pair had “chromosome tests”, while president Umar Kremlev appeared to suggest the tests determined the fighters’ testosterone levels.

The IOC, which has run the boxing events at the Olympics since suspending the IBA, said competitors were eligible for the women’s division if their passports said they were female and has backed the pair throughout.

There has been apparent criticism from Lin and Khelif’s fellow competitors, however.

Like Kahraman, Bulgaria’s Svetlana Staneva made an ‘X’ gesture in the ring after defeat although Yang Liu, who Khelif beat on Friday night to secure her victory, raised the Algerian’s arm in celebration after the bell.

Lin and Szeremeta’s bout seemed to be fought in good spirits.

The Pole, a surprise silver medallist who continued her unusual technique of keeping her hands low but was picked off by two-time world champion Lin, made a heart shape with her hands in the direction of the crowd before leaving the ring.

What next for boxing?

In 2021 the IOC issued new guidance for women’s sport which placed the responsibility on individual federations to determine eligibility criteria in their sport.

Since then many sports have banned transgender women from taking part in women’s events, such as athletics, aquatics and both rugby codes. Athletics has also brought in specific rules around athletes with differences of sex development (DSD).

Were a body to come in and take over the running of amateur boxing from the IOC it could implement its own rules on eligibility.

Bach left the door open to revisiting the IOC’s own eligibility rules when he spoke to the media on Friday.

“If someone is presenting us a scientifically solid system how to identify men and women, we are the first ones to do it,” he said.

“We do not like this uncertainty, we do not like it for the overall situation, we would be more than pleased to look into it.”

The controversy has overshadowed much of the boxing in Paris, doing little to help the uncertain future around the sport’s place at the Olympics.

The sport has been part of every Olympics since 1920 but there have been doubts around whether it would remain part of the programme for the Los Angeles Games in 2028.

“The IOC will not organise boxing in LA without a reliable partner,” Bach said.