The Taiwanese boxer was at the center of a public debate at the 2024 Olympics in Paris together with Imane Khelif.
Olympic boxing champion Lin Yuting (30) can take part in international tournaments again for the first time since the gender debate during the 2024 Summer Games. The Taiwanese boxer has been cleared by the World Boxing Association to compete in the women’s category and now wants to box at the Asian Championships in Mongolia (from March 28).
“We are pleased that the independent medical experts from World Boxing have thoroughly examined all the evidence and confirmed that Lin Yuting has been female since birth,” Taiwan’s boxing association said in a statement. Like Algerian Imane Khelif, Lin was at the center of a public and heated gender debate at the games in Paris. Both won gold there in different weight categories.
In 2023, they were excluded from the world championships by the International Boxing Association (IBA), citing failure to pass gender tests as the reason. However, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) allowed them to compete at the Summer Games in Paris the following year and declared that the boxers had been the victims of a “sudden and arbitrary decision by the IBA”.
After years of conflict with the IOC, the IBA is no longer the world governing body for Olympic boxing, but the path to Lin’s release was not an easy one under its successor, World Boxing. Last year, she underwent a mandatory genetic test, but was not yet cleared to compete at the World Championships in Liverpool in September. Taiwan’s federation then initiated an appeal procedure and sent medical documents to World Boxing. As a result, she has now been cleared.