Women’s boxing is under the spotlight again today as Taiwan’s Lin Yu-Ting has started her fight against Uzbekistan’s Sitora Turdibekova.
The clash between two-time world champion Lin, 28, and Turdibekova, 22, has sparked controversy after Lin failed a gender eligibility test at last year’s World Championships.
Lin – who has come into the Olympics as top seed – lost her bronze medal after she failed to meet the Inerantional Boxing Association’s unspecified eligibility criteria.
Algeria’s Imane Khelif, 25, who yesterday won against Italy’s Angela Carini in a bout lasting just 46 seconds, was also disqualified hours before her gold medal match at the same competition.
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) called the move into question, describing it as an ‘arbitrary’ decision that did not follow ‘due process’. They later admitted that gender rules are a ‘minefield’.
With a height advantage over her opponent, Lin quickly landed a neat right hand as she made a dominant start.
Bouncing around the ring above Turdibekova, she made a series of explosive punches against the Uzbekistan as she found her range and used her superior reach to rain punches from further away.
She dominated the first round, fighting hard as her opponent only scored one point.
All eyes are on the bout following yesterday’s dramatic fight that saw Carini quit in less than a minute with Khelif landing just one punch.
Abandoning the fight, Italian threw her helmet on the floor, collapsed to her knees in tears and told her coach: ‘It’s not right, it’s not right.’
With a height advantage over her opponent, Lin (in red) quickly landed a neat right hand as she made a dominant start
Bouncing around the ring above Turdibekova, she made a series of explosive punches against the Uzbekistan as she found her range and used her superior reach to rain punches from further away
Lin Yu-ting (pictured), who like Khelif was disqualified from the Women’s World Championships last year, will take to the ring on Friday in the featherweight division
Lin will enter the boxing competition as the Asian Games champion and top seeded fighter
Both Khelif and Lin (pictured) were disqualified at the 2023 World Championships after failing International Boxing Association eligibility rules
Algeria’s Imane Khelif (in red) defeated Angela Carini of Italy after jus 46 seconds of theirw omen’s 66kg preliminary round match at the Paris 2024 Olympics yesterday
The clash between Imane Khelif (left) and Angela Carini (right) lasted just 46 seconds, with the Algerian coming out on top
Lin had won a bronze medal in the women’s featherweight competition at the World Championships before she was stripped of the prize last year.
She had won three fights before losing in the semi-finals to Kazakhstan’s Karina Ibragimova.
In an interview with Liberty in 2013, Yu-Ting, a two time world champion, was just 17-years-old when she made the shock revelation that she took up the sport to protect her mother from domestic violence.
Her coach Zeng Ziqiang said Yu-Ting learned boxing because she felt sorry for her mother who was repeatedly beaten by her father.
Following her success she was given a 40,000 Taiwanese dollar education scholarship and she then gave future prize money to her mother to support her family after her father walked out on them at their home in New Taipei City.
The International Boxing Association (IBA) – who have been stripped of recognition amid a series of governance issues – later stripped Lin of the medal, with the organisation stating the boxer had failed to meet eligibility requirements.
Khelif’s triumph yesterday was marred by controversy, with her Italian opponent withdrawing in tears after just 46 seconds and telling her corner: ‘It’s not fair.’
During the fight, Carini was hit twice, suffered a suspected broken nose and barely threw a punch before telling her corner: ‘It’s not fair.’
She then sank to her knees, beat the canvas in frustration and refused to shake Khelif’s hand.
After the one-sided 66kg category bout ended, Carini, also 25, said she quit the match to ‘save my life’.
The fight has attracted backlash with gold medal-winning Team GB boxer boxer Nicola Adams posting: ‘I stand wit Angela Carini’.
The trailblazer slammed the decision to let the fight go ahead as ‘unfair and dangerous’.
Lin triumphed at the Asian Games last year to secure a place at a second Olympic Games
Lin had won a bronze medal in the women’s featherweight competition at the World Championships before she was stripped of the prize last year
Italian boxer Angela Carini said she had to quit her fight with Khelif to ‘save my life’
Nicola Adams, pictured defeating China’s Ren Cancan to win flyweight boxing gold at the London 2012 Olympics, has also criticised the decision to let Khelif take part at Paris 2024
Adams, who won gold at London 2012 and Rio 2016, posted her thoughts on X
She said: ‘After years of fighting for women’s boxing to even exist in the Olympics and then all the training they go through to get there it was hard to watch another fighter be forced [to] give up on her Olympic dreams.
‘People not born as biological women, that have been through male puberty should not be able to complete [sic] in women’s sport. Not only is this unfair it’s dangerous!’
There is no evidence or claim that either athletes have been through male puberty. The pair were ruled ineligible after they ‘failed to meet eligibility rules, following a test conducted by an independent laboratory’.
Sex Matters director of campaigns Fiona McAnena said the International Olympic Committee, which oversees the Games, should be ‘ashamed’.
She said: ‘It’s grossly unfair that at the pinnacle of her sporting career, Italian boxer Angela Carini had to concede for her own safety.
‘The look of sheer pain and devastation in her face at that moment should be enough to end the absurd and dangerous spectacle of men in women’s sport once and for all.
‘People are rightly outraged, and the IOC should be ashamed, but they seem to be shameless as this is their policy in action.
‘Male advantage used against women makes nearly every sport unfair, and some sports unsafe, including boxing. This is still being played out in many sports worldwide.’
Bosses at the IOC are now facing a furious backlash following the fight, with former Prime Minister Liz Truss blasting the clash.
Taiwan’s Lin Yu-ting was, along with Imane Khelif, thrown out of last year’s world boxing championships in New Delhi
Sex Matters director of campaigns Fiona McAnena said the International Olympic Committee, which oversees the Games, should be ‘ashamed’ following Imane Khelif’s victory
Harry Potter author JK Rowling has been vocal in condemning the Olympic boxing rules
She shared criticisms online, describing yesterday’s fight as ‘a man beating a woman in public’
Writing on Twitter, the ex-Tory MP said: ‘When will this madness stop? Men cannot become women. Why is the British Government not objecting to this?’
British Olympics swimming hero Sharron Davies also waded into the controversy, raging: ‘This is shocking. The IOC are a bloody disgrace. In effect legalising beating up females. This must stop!!! What the hell’s the matter with them?’
While Harry Potter author JK Rowling branded the contest ‘insanity’. In a post yesterday, the gender-critical author wrote: ‘What will it take to end this insanity? A female boxer left with life-altering injuries? A female boxer killed?’
Posting a video of the fight, the author added: ‘Watch this (whole thread), then explain why you’re OK with a man beating a woman in public for your entertainment. This isn’t sport. From the bullying cheat in red all the way up to the organisers who allowed this to happen, this is men revelling in their power over women.’
And speaking to MailOnline, sports scientist Professor Ross Tucker said: ‘Would you allow a 90kg fighter to fight against a 60kg fighter?
‘Because that’s more or less what the difference is in strength and power between male and female boxers.’
Elon Musk, the owner of the social media platform X, endorsed efforts to get a campaign in support of Carini trending.
American swimmer Riley Gaines, who has campaigned for women’s rights in her sport, wrote on the platform: ‘Men don’t belong in women’s sports. #IStandWithAngelaCarini Let’s get it trending.’
Musk quoted Gaines’ post and replied: ‘Absolutely.’
But the IBA was stripped of its recognition by the IOC last year over governance and finance issues, with the Olympic body running the boxing competition in Paris.
The IOC said in a statement yesterday: ‘These two athletes were the victims of a sudden and arbitrary decision by the IBA.
‘Towards the end of the IBA World Championships in 2023, they were suddenly disqualified without any due process.
‘According to the IBA minutes available on their website, this decision was initially taken solely by the IBA Secretary General and CEO.’
Some sports have limited the levels of testosterone allowed for athletes competing in women’s competition, while others ban everyone who has been through male puberty.
Differences of Sexual Disorder are a group of rare conditions involving genes, hormones and reproductive organs.
Some people with DSDs are raised as female but have XY sex chromosomes and blood testosterone levels in the male range.
The IOC said the rules of eligibility were based on those of the Tokyo Games in 2021 and could not be changed during a competition.
The governing body added: ‘The IOC is saddened by the abuse that the two athletes are currently receiving. Every person has the right to practice sport without discrimination.’
But in its own statement, the IBA condemned ‘inconsistencies in eligibility’ at the Paris Games, adding: ‘Both Imane Khelif and Lin Yu-ting post testing, did not meet the required eligibility criteria to compete within the female category of our respective events.
‘The urgent nature of the decision (to disqualify the boxers) was justified, as the safety of our boxers is our top priority.’
In a newly-unearthed interview filmed ahead of the Games, Khelif opened up about bouncing back from her ban over elevated testosterone levels and declared: ‘I wanted to show the whole world what a brave woman Imane Khelif is.’
Khelif’s participation in the event has been a source of controversy after she was disqualified from the Women’s World Boxing Championships last year.
The Olympics website noted that Khelif had been disqualified hours before a gold medal bout against China’s Yang Liu in New Delhi after her elevated levels of testosterone failed to meet the eligibility criteria.
The Algerian Olympic Committee (COA) hit back by claiming the disqualification was part of a ‘conspiracy’ to stop them from winning a gold medal and said ‘medical reasons’ were behind high testosterone levels.
Speaking out following her loss, Carini revealed she quit to ‘safeguard my life’, adding: ‘I couldn’t carry on. I have a big pain in my nose and I said, ‘Stop’. It’s better to avoid keeping going. My nose started dripping from the first hit.
‘It could be the match of my life but, in that moment, I had to safeguard my life, too. I felt to do this, I didn’t have any fear, I don’t have any fear of the ring or to get hit.
‘I fought very often in the national team. I train with my brother. I’ve always fought against men, but I felt too much pain today.’
After the match was stopped, the referee raised Khelif’s hand in the air. But a visibly furious Carini yanked her own hand away from the fight official and walked off.
During the rapid fight, Carini was rocked by two punches from Khelif and said the savage force of the blows made it ‘impossible to continue’.
Ignoring the Algerian after calling a halt to the bout, the Italian fighter then plunged to her knees and burst into tears – later saying she said she had never felt such strong blows in a contest before.
Speaking after the match, the heartbroken Italian said: ‘I’m used to suffering. I’ve never taken a punch like that, it’s impossible to continue. I’m nobody to say it’s illegal.
‘I got into the ring to fight. But I didn’t feel like it anymore after the first minute. I started to feel a strong pain in my nose. I didn’t give up, but a punch hurt too much and so I said enough. I’m leaving with my head held high.’
She said she did not walk away from the fight as a protest against her opponent’s inclusion, but that was a decision for the Olympics to consider.
Asked why she knelt at the end of the match, she said it was for her late father, who died in 2021, before adding: ‘I am sorry not to have taken Italy on to the podium.’
Female Italian boxer Angela Carini (in the blue) says she stopped her Olympic bout against opponent Imane Khelif (right) to ‘save my life’
The Italian fighter (in the blue) refused the handshake and fell to the canvas and appeared to wipe away a tear. Winner Khelif is pictured in the red as her opponent leaves the ring
With her Olympic dreams in tatters after just 46 seconds, the crestfallen Italian fighter Carini fell to her knees and wept
She was taken away for medical assessment to examine the seriousness of her facial injuries which included a bruised nose.
Speaking earlier this week, International Olympic Committee spokesperson Mark Adams said: ‘Everyone competing in the women’s category is complying with the competition eligibility rules.’
He added: ‘They are women in their passports and it’s stated that this is the case, that they are female.’
Prior to 2021, the IOC set thresholds for the maximum amount of testosterone — the ‘male’ sex hormone — competitors in women’s events could have. These were picked up in blood tests, similar to ones for doping.
Rules on testosterone limits had been previosuly brought into sharp focus by the very public and famous case of Caster Semenya.
Semenya has a condition which means her body naturally produces higher levels of testosterone than normal for women.
She became unable to compete at Tokyo in 2020 after World Athletics brought in new rules independently of the IOC at the time.
IOC’s own testosterone monitoring policies were halted three years ago and replaced with a policy of ‘fairness, inclusion and non-discrimination on the basis of gender identify and sex variation’.
Khelif is seen shouting in the ring during her controversial clash with the Italian
The female Italian was left reeling from the cross by Algeria’s Imane Khelif (in the red) – who was previously banned from the world championships for failing a gender test
Carini appeared distraught speaking to the press following the boxing match
The IOC now provides individual sporting bodies in every country with ‘ten guiding principles’ they can use to make their own policies.
This controversial document states that athletes with ‘sex variations’, another term for DSDs, have ‘no presumption of advantage’ and that they should be allowed to compete in the category of their gender identity.
There are exceptions, with framework stating that an ‘evidence-based approach’ can be used to exclude athletes who have a ‘consistent unfair disproportionate advantage’ or if there is an ‘unpreventable risk’ to the safety of other athletes.
Federations that govern rugby, track and field, swimming and cycling have all introduced rules in some form to address biological males in women’s sport, though the exact details of policies vary.
And boxing did as well, with the International Boxing Association (IAB) requiring athletes to undergo ‘gender assessment’.
Though it doesn’t detail the exact nature of these assessments, it is this test that Khelif and Lin failed last year at the IAB’s Women’s World Boxing Championships in New Delhi.
The IOC created a new body, the Paris Boxing Unit (PBU), to determine eligibility for competitors.
Documents from the PBU make no mention of gender or sex testing for male or female events, though they do set limits for the age of competitors, a passport being an acceptable ID for athletes and requiring boxers in the women’s category to declare if they are pregnant.
Defending its decision to approve Khelif and Lin as women the IOC’s Mr Adams added: ‘These athletes have competed many times before for many years. They haven’t just suddenly arrived.’
But sports scientist Professor Tucker, said the absence of clear policy by the IOC in this area had allowed this situation to occur.
‘Last year [Khelif and Lin] did not meet eligibility requirements and the only reason they do now is the body that did rule them ineligible has been moved aside,’ he said.
‘It’s due to a vacuum of policy, there’s no policy now.’
