Round 2 of the Olympics’ gender controversy was far less dramatic.
Taiwan’s Lin Yu-ting, who had been disqualified from the 2023 World Championships after she failed an unspecified gender eligibility test administered by the International Boxing Association, advanced to the quarterfinals of the division with a decision win over Uzbekistan’s Sitora Turdibekova.
Lin, the top seed in the featherweight division, won a unanimous decision and controlled the action throughout all three rounds.
The gender eligibility test was the same Imane Khelif had to undergo and ultimately led to her disqualification from the same boxing event in 2023.
The issue burst to the forefront on Thursday when Khelif’s match against Italian Angela Carini ended 46 seconds into the bout after Carini threw in the towel.
The IBA has maintained that both boxers were “subject to a separate and recognized test” although they did not go through a “testosterone examination.”
The International Olympic Committee ended its recognition of the IBA and the committee now oversees the boxing competition at the Olympics.
Neither athlete is transgender and the IOC has defended its decision to allow both fighters to compete in this year’s Paris Games.
Lin’s passport and medical background indicate that she was born a female, which the IOC confirmed.
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The 28-year-old has been competing in boxing matches against females since she was in middle school and New Taipei City Councilor Cho Kuan-ting wrote in a Facebook post that Lin had been registered as a female at birth, according to Taiwan News.
Lin started competing at the amateur championship level in 2017 and competed in the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, losing to the Philippines’ Nesthy Petecio in the Round of 16.
The issue burst to the forefront on Thursday when Khelif’s match against Italian Angela Carini ended 46 seconds into the bout after Carini threw in the towel.
Carini said that she had “never been hit so hard in my life” and had “enough” after taking a punch to the face.
While Carini wouldn’t voice an opinion on whether she felt Khelif should be allowed to compete, the incident immediately caused a firestorm to reignite the ongoing gender debate in women’s sports.