Another wrinkle has been added to the ongoing gender controversy in the Olympic boxing ring.
Taiwan’s Lin Yu-Ting, who has been scrutinized for her participation in the Olympics alongside fellow boxer Imane Khelif of Algeria, beat Bulgaria’s Svetlana Staneva in the quarterfinal match of the women’s 57kg category on Sunday morning, ensuring she will win at least a bronze medal.
Staneva wasn’t going to leave the ring without having her say.
The Bulgarian made two X symbols with her index fingers after the bout, which seemingly referred to female chromosomes, as the sex of her opponent, along with Khelif, has been at the forefront of the Olympics.
Both Yu-Ting and Khelif have been at the center of a gender identity clash after many have brought to light their disqualification from the 2023 World Championships for failing gender eligibility tests and were banned by the International Boxing Association (IBA).
IBA president Umar Kremlev said at the time that the athletes’ DNA tests “proved they had XY chromosomes.”
However, the International Olympic Committee (IOC), which has different eligibility tests and has banished the IBA from the Olympics, have defended the two boxers as females.
After numerous questions over Khelif, IOC spokesperson Mark Adams said, “The Algerian boxer was born female, was registered female, lived her life as a female, boxed as a female, and has a female passport.
“This is not a transgender case. I know you’re not saying that, but there has been some confusion that somehow it’s a man fighting a woman. This is just not the case, scientifically. On that, there is consensus. Scientifically, this is not a man fighting a woman. And I think that we need to kind of get that.”
On Saturday, IOC President Thomas Bach said any hatred towards the Yu-Ting and Khelif is “totally unacceptable.”
Yu-Ting and Staneva didn’t touch gloves to start the match and Staneva left the arena without commenting.
After the bout, Yu-Ting didn’t make a comment about her involvement in the controversy.
“I have received many messages of support from my country and from people in Paris. I thank them,” she said, per the Daily Mail. “But I have not been able to read them because I have shut down my social media.
“I am going to keep going and going to the gold medal. I have won a bronze medal, but I want to win the gold.”
