With a majority decision on Sunday, Lin Yu-ting defeated Bulgarian Svetlana Staneva in her Olympic quarterfinal match, guaranteeing a medal for Chinese Taipei’s featherweight team.
Due to unfounded concerns regarding their gender and eligibility to compete as women, Lin and another female boxer from Algeria have been fighting under the cloud at Paris 2024.
Following the fight, Staneva allegedly made fun of the winner by making the “X” symbol with her fingers within the ring. Staneva intended to use her taunt to identify as a woman carrying two X chromosomes, the Bulgarian Olympic Team stated on Facebook.
Lin, in the meantime, expressed her gratitude to her instructors for their instruction and for giving up their family time. The boxer added that she is grateful for her supporters in Taiwan and that she would reply to all of the messages that were sent to her on social media during the Olympics.
After the fight, she remarked, “I would especially like to express my gratitude to the people of Taiwan for their support, encouragement, and solidarity—even though I am unable to reply to every message you have written.”
Lin looked to be fighting back tears as she told reporters that she wouldn’t settle for anything less than gold and that a medal promise wasn’t enough.
“Today is a comma, not a period, full stop,” Lin declared. “We still haven’t accomplished our goal. Thus, we must not give up on any chance, and I will not stop battling.”
Lin has previously disclosed to domestic reporters that she learned to box as a young child in an attempt to shield her mother from abuse.
Based on a 2023 disqualification by the Russian-led International Boxing Association, which stated that unidentified testing put the boxers’ gender into question, Lin and Algeria’s Imane Khelif have come under intense scrutiny during these Olympics.
Concerns over the boxers’ gender are unfounded, according to the IOC, which has steadfastly backed them. Since then, the IBA’s credibility has been questioned; USA Boxing ended its affiliation with the organization last year.
According to a statement from the fighter’s Olympic organizing committee, calls for Lin to be disqualified from the competition are wholly unwarranted.
The statement read, “The Chinese Taipei Delegation vehemently denounces the malevolent internet abuse and personal attacks and demands an immediate end to those actions.”
Lin’s battle against Staneva on Sunday started slowly, with three judges giving the last round a score of 10-9 to the winner and two giving it a score of 10-9 to the Bulgarian.
However, in the following two rounds, Lin received scores of 10-9 from all five judges, guaranteeing her a semifinal spot. On Wednesday night, she is scheduled to face Esra Yıldız Kahraman of Turkey; the winner will go on to the gold-medal round on Saturday night.
Following the altercation, Staneva declined to comment to reporters. However, through social media, Bulgarian sports officials persisted in their assault on Lin.
It seems that the Bulgarian officials mispronounced the fighter’s name by accident.
“Following the match, Svetlana remained in the ring and raised her hand with all of her fingers crossed, pointing to herself. She then said, “I have XX chromosomes, I am a woman,” in the mixed zone. ” according to the Bulgarian statement, “thereby expressing his perspective on the Paris boxing competition.”
Rather than having a match for third place, this competition awards two bronze medals. Thus, making it to the semifinals entitles you to a take-home prize.