Olympic boxing: Lin Yu-ting wins gold amid gender eligibility row (2025)

An emotional Lin Yu-ting became the second boxer in 24 hours to win women's Olympic gold despite the ongoing row over her gender eligibility.

The Taiwanese beat Polish 20-year-old Julia Szeremeta by unanimous decision to claim the featherweight title, a day after Imane Khelif became the welterweight champion.

Lin and Khelif have been allowed to compete in Paris despite being disqualified from last year’s World Championships after reportedly failing gender eligibility tests.

It was her fourth victory by unanimous decision from four in the competition after the 28-year-old, once again, dominated.

Lin entered the ring to loud cheers once again and there was no sign of protest from Szeremeta, as has come from some of Lin’s previous opponents.

Lin and Szeremeta shared an embrace after the result was confirmed.

The Taiwanese was then visibly emotional during the medal ceremony and afterwards was embraced by bronze medallist Esra Yildiz Kahraman.

After defeat by Lin on Thursday, Turkey's Kahraman made an 'X' gesture to the crowd - said to be intended to represent female chromosomes - but both were smiling after their hug on the medal podium.

Lin’s victory signalled the end of one of the most controversial stories at this Olympics but the debate is likely to continue, and could even impact whether boxing is part of the next Olympics in Los Angeles.

Hours before Lin's fight, a French lawyer had said he is representing Khelif in a legal complaint in France for online harassment over the issue.

Nabil Boudi said Khelif has decided to "begin a new fight, a fight for justice, dignity and honour".

He said she has filed the complaint for "aggravated online harassment".

Asked if she would take similar action, Lin said: "This is something I will discuss with my team. I will decide later what will be the next step."

Lin said she "shut herself off" from social media during the competition to avoid the controversy.

"Some of the noises and news articles... of course I heard some of the information through my coach, but I didn’t pay too much mind to it," she said.

"I was invited by the IOC to take part in the Games, this is what I focused on."

Lin and Khelif were banned last year by the International Boxing Association (IBA) who said the pair "failed to meet the eligibility criteria for participating in the women's competition, as set and laid out in the IBA regulations".

But the International Olympic Committee (IOC), which runs the boxing events at the Olympics, allowed them to compete, insisting Khelif and Lin were "born and raised as women", and has strongly has criticised the IBA.

The IOC had previously suspended the Russia-led organisation over concerns around governance and regulation and has raised doubts about the tests.

The row erupted after Khelif’s first bout in which Italian Angela Carini abandoned after 46 seconds, saying afterwards she had to “preserve” her life.

As Lin and Khelif progressed with comfortable victories in the ring, a chaotic news conference held by the IBA last week did little to clear the confusion around their bans.

Chief executive Chris Roberts said the pair had "chromosome tests", while president Umar Kremlev appeared to suggest the tests determined the fighters' testosterone levels.

The IOC, which has run the boxing events at the Olympics since suspending the IBA, said competitors were eligible for the women's division if their passports said they were female and has backed the pair throughout.

There has been apparent criticism from Lin and Khelif’s fellow competitors, however.

Like Kahraman, Bulgaria’s Svetlana Staneva made an 'X' gesture in the ring after defeat although Yang Liu, who Khelif beat on Friday night to secure her victory, raised the Algerian’s arm in celebration after the bell.

Lin and Szeremeta’s bout seemed to be fought in good spirits.

The Pole, a surprise silver medallist who continued her unusual technique of keeping her hands low but was picked off by two-time world champion Lin, made a heart shape with her hands in the direction of the crowd before leaving the ring.

Elsewhere on the final night, Uzbekistan won two more golds to take their total in boxing to five.

Bakhodir Jalolov successfully defended his super-heavyweight title by beating Spain’s Ayoub Ghadfa. Abdumalik Khalokov won the men’s featherweight title by beating Munarbek Seiitbek Uulu of Kazakhstan.

And China’s Li Qian beat Panama’s Atheyna Bylon to take the women’s middleweight crown.

In 2021 the IOC issued new guidance for women’s sport which placed the responsibility on individual federations to determine eligibility criteria in their sport.

Since then many sports have banned transgender women from taking part in women's events, such as athletics, aquatics and both rugby codes. Athletics has also brought in specific rules around athletes with differences of sex development (DSD).

Were a body to come in and take over the running of amateur boxing from the IOC it could implement its own rules on eligibility.

Bach left the door open to revisiting the IOC’s own eligibility rules when he spoke to the media on Friday.

“If someone is presenting us a scientifically solid system how to identify men and women, we are the first ones to do it,” he said.

“We do not like this uncertainty, we do not like it for the overall situation, we would be more than pleased to look into it.”

The controversy has overshadowed much of the boxing in Paris, doing little to help the uncertain future around the sport’s place at the Olympics.

The sport has been part of every Olympics since 1920 but there have been doubts around whether it would remain part of the programme for the Los Angeles Games in 2028.

“The IOC will not organise boxing in LA without a reliable partner,” Bach said.

Olympic boxing: Lin Yu-ting wins gold amid gender eligibility row (2025)

FAQs

Olympic boxing: Lin Yu-ting wins gold amid gender eligibility row? ›

The second of the two boxers caught up in a gender eligibility row at the Paris Olympics

Paris Olympics
The 2024 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXXIII Olympiad and branded as Paris 2024, were an international multi-sport event held from 26 July to 11 August 2024 in France, with several events started from 24 July.
https://en.wikipedia.org › wiki › 2024_Summer_Olympics
has won gold, 24 hours after the first. The Taiwanese fighter Lin Yu-ting secured a gold medal in convincing fashion by defeating the young Pole, Julia Szeremeta, in the final of the women's 57kg event.

Who won the gold medal in women's boxing at the 2024 Olympics? ›

Paris 2024 boxing: All results, as Imane Khelif of Algeria takes home Olympic gold medal in women's 66kg. Imane Khelif of Algeria beat Yang Liu of the People's Republic of China to win gold in women's boxing 66kg at Olympic Games Paris 2024 on Friday, 9 August at Stade Roland-Garros.

Which Taiwanese boxer has a gender row? ›

Taiwan's Lin Yu-ting has become the second women's boxer embroiled in a gender dispute to win gold at the Olympic Games, triggering jubilant scenes among her fans in Taipei and Paris.

Which female Olympic boxer has XY chromosomes? ›

In the face of backlash over Khelif's 2024 win, the IBA stood by its decision to disqualify the boxers over two "trustworthy" and "independent" tests, though they did not disclose what the tests were. The Washington Post reported IBA president claimed they were disqualified over finding XY chromosomes.

Which female boxer won gold medal? ›

Algerian boxer Imane Khelif wins Olympic gold For two weeks, political controversy and online harassment had loomed over Khelif's participation in the Olympics.

Who is the only boxer male or female to win eight world championship medals? ›

Kom is regarded as one of the greatest Indian athletes of all time. She is the only female boxer to have won a medal in each one of the first seven World Championships, and the only boxer (male or female) to win eight World Championship medals.

How rare is XY female? ›

46,XY females are rare. Data on the incidence are sparse and estimates vary widely. The incidences of AIS and gonadal dysgenesis are reported to be 1–5 per 100 000 births (11–13) and 1 per 80 000 births (7), respectively.

What gender is an XO chromosome? ›

A person with five X chromosomes and one Y chromosome (XXXXXY) would be male. Furthermore, an individual with only a single X chromosome and no second X or Y (i.e., XO) develops as a female and begins making ovaries, although the ovarian follicles cannot be maintained.

Are people with XXY chromosomes male or female? ›

Usually, a female baby has 2 X chromosomes (XX) and a male has 1 X and 1 Y (XY). But in Klinefelter syndrome, a boy is born with an extra copy of the X chromosome (XXY). The X chromosome is not a "female" chromosome and is present in everyone. The presence of a Y chromosome denotes male sex.

Who won the boxing Olympics in 2024? ›

The final Uzbek to top the podium, Bakhodir Jalolov defended his Tokyo 2020 gold in the last match boxing match contested at the 2024 Paris Olympics.

Who won the women's boxing title? ›

𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐆𝐖𝐎𝐀𝐓 𝐃𝐎𝐄𝐒 𝐈𝐓 𝐀𝐆𝐀𝐈𝐍 ‼️ Congratulations to Claressa Shields on winning the WBC Women's Heavyweight World Title 🥊 #ShieldsJoanisse | 🎥: DAZN.

What has China won gold in 2024? ›

Cao Yuan defended his title in the men's 10-meter platform on Saturday and gave his nation an unprecedented sweep of the diving gold medals at the Paris Olympics.

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