Taiwanese government officials – including the nation’s first woman president, former head of state Tsai Ing-wen – united behind Olympic boxer Lin Yu-ting on Tuesday after the eruption of an international controversy surrounding Lin allegedly not meeting the requirements to fight in a women’s match.
Lin and another boxer, Algeria’s Imane Khelif, were barred from a women’s boxing tournament in 2023 due to their “failure to meet the eligibility criteria for participating in the women’s competition,” the International Boxing Association (IBA) reiterated on Wednesday. At the time of their disqualification, IBA President Umar Kremlev told the Russian news agency Tass that the two fighters “have XY chromosomes.”
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has allowed both Khelif and Lin to compete in the women’s boxing competition at the 2024 Paris Summer Olympics on the grounds that both fighters are listed as “female” on their national passports. It did not clarify how it used Lin’s passport to verify competition eligibility when it does not recognize Taiwan as a sovereign country. The IOC also accused those questioning the boxers’ sex of discrimination and violating the “human rights” of the athletes.
Both athletes fought in the 2021 Tokyo Summer Olympics without controversy. Observers nationwide erupted in outrage and concern for the other competitors in the women’s boxing tournament after Khelif defeated Italian opponent Angela Carini in 46 seconds on Thursday. Carini claimed after the match that she had “never taken a punch like that” and did not feel safe to continue in the ring with Khelif.
Lin is expected to fight on Friday against Uzbekistan’s Sitora Turdibekova and has shrugged off concerns that allowing potentially male athletes to fight women presents a danger to the competitors.
Taiwanese leaders have rejected pressure to stop Lin from fighting in the women’s tournament. Former President Tsai made the most vocal statement of support to the fighter on Friday, sharing a photo of herself with Lin and celebrating “an athlete who is fearless in the face of challenges, whether they come from inside or outside the ring.”
“We will be behind her & all the Taiwanese Olympians making us proud,” Tsai wrote.
When I met boxer Lin Yu-ting 林郁婷, I saw an athlete who is fearless in the face of challenges, whether they come from inside or outside the ring.
Today, when she represents #Taiwan on the Olympic stage, we will be behind her & all the Taiwanese Olympians making us proud. pic.twitter.com/UfSqIqgSxC— 蔡英文 Tsai Ing-wen (@iingwen) August 2, 2024
Tsai’s Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) remains in power after her vice president, Lai Ching-te, won the presidential election in January. His administration has also supported Lin. Lai’s sports administration director, James Cheng, accused critics of “discrimination” against Lin.
“These discriminatory remarks might be strategically placed in the news media to distract Lin,” Cheng said on Wednesday, according to the Taipei Times. “We understand that athletes have the right to speak up for themselves, but they might do so without having a full grasp of the details of the situation.”
“We hope that people would continue to support and cheer for our athletes while they are competing in Paris,” Cheng urged.
Cheng also asserted that Lin “has been subjected to doping and other tests just as other athletes have and did not encounter any issues.” The IOC statement on the situation in the boxing tournament did not discuss any sex identification tests, however, clarifying on Thursday that “the gender and age of the athletes are based on their passport.”
Councilor Cho Kuan-ting of New Taipei City, where Lin lives, also issued remarks on Thursday stating that Lin “is registered as a female on her birth certificate” and called the fighter “the pride of Taiwan.”
A screen shows Taiwan’s Lin Yu-ting (C) fighting against Uzbekistan’s Sitora Turdibekova in the women’s 57kg preliminaries round of 16 boxing match during the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, during a live telecast at a sports bar in Taipei on August 2, 2024. (SAM YEH/AFP via Getty)
“It took her years of hard work to get to where she is today, and we should applaud and cheer for her enthusiastic and explosive performance in the boxing ring,” Cho asserted. “The Olympic Games should be a platform where top athletes compete, rather than bullying one another. Let’s treasure and support Lin.”
Cho also claimed “the test result from last year was not even about chromosomes,” contradicting the statement the IBA president gave to Tass in March 2023.
Taiwan Presidential Office Secretary-General Pan Men-an also published a statement on social media supporting Lin, condemning safety concerns regarding Lin’s participation as “humiliation, insults and verbal bullying just because of your appearance and a controversial verdict in the past.”
Taiwan is allowed to compete in the Olympics only under the name “Chinese Taipei,” which placates communist China’s false claim that Taiwan is a province of China and its government is a rogue secessionist organization, rather than a functional, independent, and sovereign state entity. It is enjoying significant success in women’s boxing independent of Lin’s participation already, as lightweight fighter Wu Shih-yi secured at least a bronze medal on Thursday, becoming one of the final four remaining competitors for the gold on Thursday.