Taiwanese boxer Lin Yu-ting, Olympic champion under 57 kg, withdrew from an international competition in Great Britain whose organizer questioned her femininity, her federation announced on Wednesday, November 27.
“She is a woman, she meets all the eligibility criteria and successfully participated in the women's boxing event [des Jeux olympiques de Paris]winning a gold medal »she reacts in a press release.
Lin Yu-ting, who had not returned to a ring since the Games, was to participate from Wednesday in the finals of the Boxing World Cup, organized in Sheffield by World Boxing, an organization founded in 2023 intended to restore its credibility to world amateur boxing, after the break between the International Federation (IBA) and the International Olympic Committee (IOC).
“World Boxing's current eligibility policy does not prevent Lin Yu-ting from participating in the Boxing World Cup”replied a spokesperson for the body in the afternoon. “Selection decisions are made by the national federations and the boxer was not registered for this event”she added.
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“Boxers come first”
The Taiwanese Federation, for its part, accuses World Boxing of being responsible for the loss of its boxer. “Unfortunately, given that World Boxing has just been created (…), it does not have clear IOC regulatory policies that guarantee the protection of athletes’ rights”she continues in her press release, adding that Lin Yu-ting had offered to undergo a “complete on-site medical examination”but that World Boxing did not accept his proposal. To prevent her from suffering other “harms”his coach and Taiwanese sports officials have “decided to proactively withdraw from this event”.
In its response, World Boxing assures that “boxers come first and foremost and [que] Athlete safety is absolutely paramount. (…) We have recognized for some time that gender clarification is an extremely complex issue that raises important welfare questions and our medical committee has a specific working group committed to examining all aspects of this area so that we can strengthen our policy”.
Lin Yu-ting, like the Algerian boxer Imane Khelif, also crowned Olympic champion in Paris, had been the target of a hate campaign against the backdrop of a dispute between the IOC, which had authorized them to compete, and the International Federation of boxing.
The controversy dates back to the IBA's decision to exclude Lin Yu-ting and Imane Khelif from the World Championships in New Delhi in March 2023, on the grounds that they had failed a test intended to establish their gender. The IBA, a body which is no longer recognized by the Olympic world, has always refused to specify the nature of this test.
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