Boxer Lin Yu-ting sobs after winning Olympic gold amid gender row

The second of the two boxers caught up in a gender eligibility row at the Paris Olympics has won gold, 24 hours after the first. The Taiwanese fighter Lin Yu-ting secured a gold medal in convincing fashion by defeating the young Pole, Julia Szeremeta, in the final of the women’s 57kg event. Lin won every round unanimously and was never in trouble, punching the air and embracing her coach after a fight she controlled from the start.

It confirmed the overwhelming supremacy displayed by Lin, who did not drop a round across any of her four fights in Paris. The 28-year-old is a double world champion but had not previously won an Olympic medal. She was beaten in the round of 16 at Tokyo 2020 but proved unassailable here, becoming Taiwan’s second gold winner of the summer.

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Lin was received rapturously by the large section of her compatriots inside Roland Garros and sobbed uncontrollably while the Taiwan anthem played during the medal ceremony. She exchanged hugs with Szerameta and the joint bronze winners, Nesthy Petecio and Era Yildiz Kahraman.

“I cried because I was so touched,” Lin said. “During the fight I saw images flashing and I thought about the beginning of my career when I started boxing. There were times of great pain and joy.”

Lin and the Algerian fighter Imane Khelif – who won gold in the women’s 66kg category on Friday – had entered the Olympics amid controversy. Both boxers were disqualified from last year’s world championships by the International Boxing Association (IBA) after it said they had failed unspecified gender tests. The IBA, run by the Russian businessman Umar Kremlev and funded by Russia’s state oil company Gazprom, had its Olympic status revoked in June 2023 due to concerns around governance issues and corruption.

Earlier this month the IOC criticised the “arbitrary” testing imposed on Lin and Khelif. It pointed to a lack of due process and “proper procedure” in the IBA’s treatment of the women.

After passing a crowd of around 100 fans who had waited outside the court to hail her, Lin responded to the question of whether the discussion around her participation, which caused a sharply polarised debate on social and beyond, had seeped in during her Olympics. “As an elite athlete, during the competition it’s important to shut myself off from social media and focus,” she said. “Of course I heard some of the information through my coach but I didn’t pay too much mind to it. I was invited by the IOC to participate in the games and this is what I focused on.”

Lin’s victory came as news broke via Khelif’s lawyer that the Algerian has filed a formal legal complaint, citing being the victim of online harassment around the dispute. Asked whether she would consider taking similar action, Lin said: “This is something I will discuss with my team. I will decide later what will be the next step.”

In the ring, Lin made short work of Szeremeta despite her opponent’s attempts to make full use of a springy, mobile, notoriously provocative style. Lin uses her height to sound advantage but moves lightly; she glided around the canvas, controlled the position and tempo of the fight, picked her moments to attack and was unhindered during the first two rounds.

Szeremeta, who had nothing to lose, fought back in the third and went out punching, visibly bruised and bloodied at the end. In an amicable aftermath there was no repeat of the “X” gestures that Karaman and another previous opponent, Svetlana Staneva, had made after defeats by Lin. They had been interpreted in some quarters as a reference to XX chromosomes; Szeremeta, though, took the defeat in good grace and made a heart shape towards her supporters, bowing to all sides and congratulating Lin before departing.

The runner-up was, though, questioned later about the political party she is aligned with. Szeremeta was a candidate for the extreme right party Konfederacja in elections earlier this year, unsuccessfully contesting a local election in Lublin. Konfederacja’s social media activity, largely through reposts on X, has cast doubt over Lin’s eligibility to compete and on Saturday night its feed contained a number of apparent insults towards the winner. Asked whether she would endorse these views, Szeremeta declined to offer a comment.

Ultimately this was Lin’s night, and a victory too for those who have fought her corner. Earlier in the day Lai Ching-te, the Taiwan president, had put on record his support in a post on X. “She carries the strength of a nation,” he wrote. “She has faced adversity & senseless attacks from beyond the ring with incredible grace and unwavering courage. We’re cheering her on to the finish.”

Another of the evening’s victors was Bakhodir Jalolov, the Uzbek super-heavyweight, who retained his title with a commanding win over the Spaniard Ayoub Ghadfa Drissi El Aissaoui. His countryman Abdumalik Khalokov was successful in the 57kg final while China’s Li Qian took gold in the women’s 75kg event.