Taiwan’s presidential office and former president on August 2 expressed support for Taiwanese boxer Lin Yu-ting who has been embroiled in a row over gender at the Paris Olympic Games ahead of her opening bout.
“Let’s cheer for Lin Yu-ting together,” wrote Tsai Ing-wen, Taiwan’s first female president, who ran the island between 2016 and 2024, on her official Facebook page, adding that Lin was seeking victory for herself and honour for Taiwan.
Lin, 28, is one of two boxers, who were disqualified by the International Boxing Association (IBA) from last year’s World Championships for failing gender eligibility tests but were given the green light to compete in the Paris Olympics.
Also read: IOC, IBA justify their stands over boxer’s gender issue
The other boxer, Algeria’s Imane Khelif, defeated Italy’s Angela Carini in a women’s welterweight bout on August 1, landing a series of heavy blows that prompted Carini to withdraw after 46 seconds.
The seeming mismatch and images of Carini sobbing in the ring afterwards, has fuelled a debate over gender and whether athletes with Differences of Sexual Development (DSD) should compete in women’s sport.
British author J.K. Rowling, who has been outspoken on gender issues in the past, tweeted after the bout that the Paris Olympics had been “forever tarnished by the brutal injustice done to Carini.”
The International Olympic Committee (IOC), said it was saddened by the row, and that the pair were facing “aggression” because of an arbitrary decision.
It stressed all athletes competing in boxing met eligibility requirements, and that the IBA decision to disqualify the two boxers last year was a sudden and arbitrary decision, taken “without any due process.”
Lin is a double world champion competing in her second Olympics, and will fight in the 57kg women’s event against Uzbekistan’s Sitora Turdibekova on Friday. Lin reportedly first started boxing after seeing her mother suffer domestic abuse.
Pan Men-an, the Secretary-General for Taiwan’s Presidential office, said on Facebook he supported Lin and that it was wrong for her to be “subjected to humiliation, insults and verbal bullying just because of your appearance and a controversial verdict in the past.”
Tsai, the former president, also said on X that Lin was “fearless in the face of challenges, whether they come from inside or outside the ring.”
Imane Khelif wins first Olympic fight when opponent Angela Carini quits
Imane Khelif and Angela Carini exchanged a few brisk punches in their 46 seconds of competition in the Paris ring. They were enough to persuade Carini that her Olympic debut was finished.
The Italy boxer abruptly walked away from her Algerian opponent and went to her corner Thursday, abandoning her bout — an extremely rare occurrence in Olympic boxing.
Carini didn’t shake Khelif’s hand after the referee formally raised it, but she cried in the ring after sinking to her knees. Minutes afterward, a still-tearful Carini said she quit because of the pain from those opening punches.
“I felt a severe pain in my nose, and with the maturity of a boxer, I said ‘enough,’ because I didn’t want to, I didn’t want to, I couldn’t finish the match,” Carini said.
Khelif was disqualified from the 2023 world championships after failing an unspecified gender eligibility test, and her presence at the Paris Olympics has become a divisive issue.
Carini, who had a spot of blood on her trunks, said she wasn’t making a political statement and was not refusing to fight Khelif. Carini further said she is not qualified to decide whether Khelif should be allowed to compete.
“I just did my job as a boxer,” Carini said. “I got into the ring and fought. I did it with my head held high and with a broken heart for not having finished the last kilometer.”
Carini later received a visit from Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni, who consoled the boxer in a photo posted on Meloni’s Instagram page.
“I know you won’t give up, Angela,” Meloni wrote, “and I know one day you will win what you deserve with effort and sweat. In a competition that is finally equal.”
Khelif is an accomplished amateur who won a silver medal at the International Boxing Association’s 2022 world championships. The IBA — which has been banned from the Olympics since 2019 after years of disputes with the IOC — disqualified her from last year’s championships shortly before her gold-medal match because of what it claimed were elevated levels of testosterone.
The 25-year-old entered the ring at the North Paris Arena to a chorus of cheers, but the crowd was confused by the bout’s sudden end. Italy coach Emanuele Renzini said he discussed the matchup with Carini and offered to allow her to back out earlier, but the boxer had been “very determined” to fight until the opening minute.
“I am heartbroken because I am a fighter,” Carini said. “My father taught me to be a warrior. I have always stepped into the ring with honor and I have always (served) my country with loyalty. And this time I couldn’t do it because I couldn’t fight anymore, and so I ended the match.”
Khelif could clinch an Olympic medal with a victory in her quarterfinal bout on Saturday against Anna Luca Hamori, Hungary’s first Olympic women’s boxer.
Hamori expressed no concern about fighting Khelif.
“I’m not scared,” said Hamori, who trounced Marissa Williamson Pohlman of Australia. “I don’t care about the press story and social media. If she or he is a man, it will be a bigger victory for me if I win.”
Khelif’s passport says she is female.
Hamori and Khelif have never sparred, but they have competed in the same tournament before. Hamori repeatedly said she isn’t paying attention to the controversy because it’s only a hindrance to her quest for gold.
“I’m trying to not use my phone before the fight,” Hamori said. “I don’t want to care about the comments or the story or the news. I just want to stay focused on myself. I did it before my last two fights, so I think this is the key, and we will see.”
And Hamori could only shrug at Carini’s decision to quit.
“It was her choice,” Hamori said. “I don’t understand, because I thought every boxer’s mind is the same like mine, to never give up. But it was her choice. We don’t know what was the reason. It’s her life, but I know I want to do this in my own life.”
