Lin Yu-ting claims gold in boxing amid gender controversy

PARIS — Lin Yu-ting captured featherweight gold on Saturday, defeating Poland’s Julia Szeremeta and shaking off more than a week of specious allegations that she shouldn’t be fighting in the women’s division.

Lin won by unanimous decision at Roland-Garros stadium, with the five judges scoring it 10-9 in all three rounds for the fighter representing Chinese Taipei.

The gold medalist is listed at 5-foot-9 and her Polish opponent at 5-foot-5, but the disparity appeared to be greater in real life, with Lin punching downhill and rarely being threatened.

Lin and welterweight gold medalist Imane Khelif of Algeria have both dealt with a firestorm of questions from opponents wrongly questioning their gender since they entered Olympic competition.

Khelif and Lin have competed for years in women’s events, including at the Tokyo Olympics, and there is no indication that they identify as transgender or intersex, the latter referring to people born with sex characteristics that do not fit strictly into the male-female gender binary.

Questions surrounding their gender stemmed from a decision by the Russian-led International Boxing Association to disqualify them at last year’s Women’s World Boxing Championships in New Delhi.  The IBA removed those two fighters from a competition at the time, saying they had tests that questioned their gender eligibility.

The IBA said it had conducted tests in 2022 and 2023 that raised doubts about the boxers’ gender because of their chromosomes.