Many have reacted to the news of Imane Khelif competing in the Olympics after failing a gender test, and as if this whole ordeal hasn't been confusing enough, there is actually another female fighter at the 2024 Paris Games, Taiwan's Lin Yu-Ting, who was also disqualified for the same reason at the World Championships last year.
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To point out, Lin won her first boxing match at the Olympics on Friday (unanimous 5-0 decision vs. Uzbekistan's Sitora Turdibekova), and this has raised even more questions on how her and Khelif are allowed to compete, adding to the growing controversy within women's boxing.
Lin Yu-Ting of Taiwan, whose DNA sex test revealed the presence of XY chromosomes, beats Sitora Turdibekova easily on points. The Uzbek walks off without shaking hands pic.twitter.com/ctvDkLnT8X
— Oliver Brown (@oliverbrown_tel) August 2, 2024
The International Boxing Association found both Lin and Khelif to be ineligible last year due to 'elevated testosterone levels,' and they recently made another statement on the matter, saying they will never support boxing matches between the genders, citing it as a safety risk since both athletes (Lin and Khelif) also reportedly have XY chromosomes (found in males).
"IBA remains committed in ensuring competitive fairness in all of our events, we absolutely condemn the inconsistencies in eligibility to compete in the boxing competition held in the Paris Olympic Games 2024. To reiterate, both Imane Khelif and Lin Yu-ting post testing, did not meet the required eligibility criteria to compete within the female category of our respective events," their statement read.
With both fighters moving onto the next quarter-final round, Khelif (66 kg) will vs. Hungary's Hamori Anna Luca on August 3 at 11:22 am ET, while Lin (57 kg) will vs. Bulgaria's Staneva Svetlana Kamenova on August 4th at 5:00 am ET.
That is to say, Khelif's next opponent, Hamori, was asked about the upcoming fight.
"I'm not scared," the Hungarian boxer told reporters. "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."
Joint Paris 2024 Boxing Unit/IOC Statementhttps://t.co/22yVzxFuLd pic.twitter.com/fZvgsW8OOi
— IOC MEDIA (@iocmedia) August 1, 2024
