GENDER ROW Olympic boxer Lin Yu-Ting has beaten Svetlana Staneva in the women’s 57kg quarter-final and guaranteed herself a bronze medal.
The Taiwan featherweight defeated Sitora Turdibekova of Uzbekistan in her first contest of the Games, winning all three rounds.
And she backed that up with a unanimous decision victory over Bulgaria’s Staneva to guarantee a bronze medal.
The opening round was a tense and tight affair as both women found their groove – and the five judges were divided, three giving it to Lin and two to Staneva.
It got scrappy in the second, halted temporarily by the Bulgarian needing her shoelace retying, before she was given a ticking off for pushing Lin to the canvas.
No1 seed Lin was awarded the round by all the judges to put her on the brink of victory.
Despite another tumble in the third – again not an official knockdown – and a late flurry from Staneva, Lin had done enough by the final bell.
And when a unanimous points victory was confirmed, the Taiwan star acknowledged the support before Staneva, who was booed by fans, graciously sat on the rope to help her conqueror out of the ring.
Lin is now two wins away from gold but her participation in the Olympics has been met with backlash.
That is because she was disqualified from last year’s World Championships in New Delhi after failing gender eligibility tests, as was Algeria’s Imane Khelif.
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.
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.
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.
And Bulgaria’s Olympic Committee have contacted the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to object to the participation of Khelif and Lin at the Olympics.
A statement read: “We are firmly determined to defend the rights not only of Bulgarian, but of all female athletes who will be potentially harmed by the participation of representatives of the opposite sex in women’s competitions.
“In addition, we express our concern for the health of female competitors, as it has been scientifically proven that men’s blows are much stronger than women’s and can lead to severe injuries and permanent trauma.”
However 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.”
Khelif roared “I am a woman” after defeating Hungary’s Anna Luca Hamori in the quarter-final to guarantee herself a bronze medal.
But the 25-year-old holds bigger ambitions, stating after her win: “There is not an easy pass in the Olympics, and I will try to be fully ready for the coming fight.
“I’m very proud of myself and my country. I fight for my country flag and for a sport I love very much, and I hope to be an Olympic champion after winning a first medal in Olympic female boxing for Algeria, for the sake of the next generation.”
