Taiwanese boxer Lin Yu-Ting, a 28-year-old male, will win at least a bronze medal at the Paris Olympics after beating 34-year-old Bulgarian female Svetlana Kamenova Staneva in the women’s 57kg quarterfinals Sunday.
After the decision, Staneva defiantly would not shake Yu-Ting’s hand and made an X sign with her fingers to indicate the X chromosomes of women, in protest of the unfairness of the Olympics.
YuTing had advanced to the round on Friday with his win against female boxer Sitora Turdibekova of Uzbekistan on Friday. Yu-Ting is 5 foot 9 inches, and Turdibekova is 5 foot 6 inches. Staneva is 5 foot 8 inches.
This means both men who are fighting in women’s divisions will get at least a bronze medal.
On Saturday Hungary’s Anna Luca Hamori, 5 foot 9 inches, was beaten by Khelif, 5 foot 10 inches, in the welterweight division of women’s boxing, giving Khelif at least a bronze medal in the 66kg division.
Yu-ting and Khelif are the subject of controversy since they are not allowed to fight in the International Boxing Federation as women.
USA Today says today that objections to them fighting as women is a right-wing-fomented point of view. “At the Paris Olympics, Algerian boxer Imane Khelif has become a target for right-wing activists falsely labeling Khelif as transgender.”
Yu-Ting, who moves to the semi-finals on Aug. 7 to fight for silver, and Algerian male boxer Imane Khelif, who fights a Thai woman in a semi-final round on Aug. 6, have X and Y chromosomes that make them males, although they have a combination of male and female sexual characteristics.
The two men have rare conditions that used to be referred to as hermaphroditism. Because they have testicles internally, they grew up with testosterone-fueled physiques that more resemble males with stronger muscles and upper body mass.
The head of the Olympics has stated that anyone questioning the decision of the International Olympics Committee is engaging in hate speech.
