A true powerhouse of a human being targeted by a witch hunt
Taiwanese female boxer Lin Yu-ting (林郁婷), 28, has been the subject of recent slander amid misdirected fanfare that accompany every Olympic Games. As top seed in the women’s 57kg featherweight boxing competition at Paris 2024, Lin is pestered by a persistent rumor questioning her gender that sprung from a questionable test in 2023 (cherry-picked by most commentators who then proceed to ignore her otherwise decade-long clean and tested professional career). Well, to debunk those baseless accusations, here’s her story.
Her name, Yu-ting, means “elegant and graceful” in Mandarin. Born in 1995 to a single-parent household in New Taipei City, Lin has an elder brother who shares her fondness for Japanese mangaka George Morikawa’s boxing-themed series “Hajime no Ippo,” as they both admire the protagonist Ippo Makunouchi for taking up boxing in response to being bullied. Not only does her birth name carry a female radical signifying her biological gender, Lin’s national ID number starts with “2” — denoting her as a female citizen of Taiwan.
“I am a woman.” (original quote)
She has long been discriminated against for her androgynous looks. Growing up with a preference for short hair, Lin has braved scorn and distrust both in and outside of the boxing ring over her boyish appearance. To the many other individuals who are also challenged by society due to their unconventional looks or life choices, she says that it is not worth it to change yourself for other people.
“I want to focus on my performance in the ring… If I wore my hair long, I would have to spend too much time tending to it and have no time to rest between morning and afternoon training sessions. How could I perform well that way?” (translated quote)
She took up boxing to support her family. Boxing was her scholarship ticket and a way of alleviating the financial stress upon the Lin household. In between domestic and overseas competitions, the student-boxer is also studying at Fu Jen Catholic University’s Graduate Institute of Business Administration. Under Coach Tseng Tzu-chiang (曾自強), Lin has sparred and trained alongside mostly male boxers since she took up the sport in junior high. Coach Tseng treats all his athletes to an equally grueling routine, something which the competitive Lin enjoys.
“I prefer to bleed in the dark, training, than cry in the limelight.” (translated quote)
She compares herself to an indestructible cockroach. The notorious cucaracha, otherwise nicknamed “Little Strong (小強)” in Mandarin, is a symbol of resilience in East Asia. Moreover, Lin is an avid reader of “The Champion’s Mind: How Great Athletes Think, Train, and Thrive” by Jim Afremow and draws strength from its story on a centipede who forgot how to move naturally because of a frog’s comment.
“A frog meets a centipede and, after watching it for a while, says, ‘It’s unbelievable! How can you walk so fast and coordinate all these legs of yours? I only have four and I still find it difficult.’ At this, the centipede stops, thinks about it, and finds himself unable to leave again.” (book quote)
WHERE DID THE ALLEGATIONS COME FROM?
Doubts cast on Lin’s biological sex came from “a single statement from a Russian official published in the form of a Telegram post last March,” reports RTE.
That Russian official was Umar Kremlev, president of the disgraced International Boxing Association (IBA), who claimed DNA tests had “proved” that Lin “had XY chromosomes.” Kremlev’s March 25, 2023 Telegram comments on athletes who “pretended to be women” were then amplified by Russian news agency TASS.
This happened when Lin was stripped of her bronze medal at an IBA event in New Delhi last year, in which the Taiwanese boxer was forced by the organizers to sign papers without being informed of their content. No further details about the testing process and results were ever released to the public.
So far, media like the BBC are “unable to determine what the gender tests consist of.”
WHAT DOES THE IBA SAY?
The association, which is no longer recognized by the governing body of the Olympic Games, released a statement on July 31 saying: “Point to note, the athletes [Lin Yu-ting and Imane Khelif] did not undergo a testosterone examination but were subject to a separate and recognized test, whereby the specifics remain confidential.”
“This test conclusively indicated that both athletes did not meet the [IBA’s] required necessary eligibility criteria and were found to have competitive advantages over other female competitors.”
In other words, the IBA recognizes Lin as a female competitor with unspecified advantages while still refusing to release more info on the testing done by an unnamed independent laboratory.
Imane Khelif, from Algeria, is another woman boxer unfairly targeted in this public uproar.
WHAT DOES THE IOC SAY?
“Everyone competing in the women’s category is complying with the competition eligibility rules. They are women in their passports and it is stated that is the case,” IOC spokesperson Mark Adams told reporters on July 30 and cautioned against a “witch hunt.”
The IOC’s MyInfo site, an internal database provided to journalists, does say Lin was “stripped of her bronze medal after failing to meet eligibility requirements based on the results of a biochemical test” in New Delhi last year, despite the IBA having no part in running Olympic boxing since 2019.
The IBA-IOC fallout, according to the Associated Press, “centered on the IBA’s management under presidents from Uzbekistan and Russia who the IOC disapproved of, its finances being backed by Russia state energy firm Gazprom, plus the integrity of bouts and judging.”
Major alleged match-fixing scandals also took place under the IBA presidency of C.K. Wu (吳經國), a former member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) once representing Taiwan who has close ties with China.
TL;DR?
Taiwan’s Lin Yu-ting is a woman boxer whose biological sex came into question when a Russian sports official alleged on Telegram she was only “pretending” to be a woman without offering proof of test. He’s the head of the disgraced International Boxing Association (IBA) that is no longer recognized by the governing body of the Olympic Games after its corruption, financial, and ethical woes came to light.
The IBA stripped a bronze medal from Lin in 2023, claiming she had “competitive advantages over other female competitors” but refuses to this date to release any specifics pertaining to even what kind of test Lin was subjected to. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has reaffirmed Lin’s eligibility to compete in women’s boxing at Paris 2024 while cautioning against a “witch hunt.”
Those like J.K. Rowling who did have their torches out and blazing, however, should retract their previous comments and apologize.
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
