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 women.
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.
The fighter said the gender controversy rarely entered her mind as she concentrated on preparation.
"As a elite athlete during the competition it’s important to shut myself off from social media and to focus," she told reporters after the bout. “Some of the noises and some of the news articles, of course I heard some of the information through my coach but I didn’t pay too much mind to it."
Lin's coach, Tseng Tzu-chiang, went on a sarcastic attack on J.K. Rowling and thanked the "Harry Potter" author for shining a light on Taiwan and his fighter.
Rowling has, for years, drawn fire for her comments demeaning the trans community. And in recent days, Rowling has taken to social media to voice her opposition to Lin and Algerian welterweight Imane Khelif fighting in Paris.
"I am very grateful to J.K. Rowling: Thank you for your groundless remarks, which have brought global attention to Taiwan," Tseng said. "She truly is a magical writer, so we made our own magic."
Fans in Taiwan have rallied to their boxer's side and the Chinese Taipei Olympic Committee hailed her success.
"Thank you Yu, we will always be your strongest backers," the body said.
In social media postings after Saturday's bout, the Polish Olympic Committee celebrated Szeremeta's silver medal and did not appear to take the path of Turkish and Bulgarian fighters, who mocked Lin when the boxer from Taiwan beat them.
Lin and welterweight gold medalist Khelif 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.
The IBA has not released details of the testing. IOC spokesperson Mark Adams called those eligibility tests “flawed” and “not legitimate” at a news conference Sunday.
The Taiwanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs described Lin's win on Instagram as “such an emotional win!” while representing Taiwan and “overcoming challenges in & outside the ring…with remarkable grace & resilience.”
David K. Li reported from Paris and Rima Abdelkader from Stamford, Connecticut.
