Taiwan threatens legal action over Olympic boxing gender row

Lin Yu-ting of Taiwan reacts during her fight against Svetlana Kamenova Staneva of Bulgaria on Aug. 4, 2024. Photo by Reuters

Taiwan’s Lin Yu-ting and Algeria’s Imane Khelif, both of whom are guaranteed a medal after reaching the semi-finals, are at the center of a major gender row.

The IBA disqualified them from its world championships in 2023, but boxing in Paris is run by the International Olympic Committee, which cleared them to compete.

The two organizations have been in open dispute and the IOC took over the sport at the Games because of financial, governance and ethical concerns at the IBA.

The Russian-led IBA attempted to clarify the situation surrounding Lin and Khelif but a chaotic press conference on Monday only muddied the waters further, with IBA officials making a series of contradictory statements.

Its president, Kremlin-linked oligarch Umar Kremlev, claimed that both fighters had “genetic testing that shows that these are men”.

Talking via video call, Kremlev also claimed that testing showed the duo “have men’s level of testosterone”.

In response, Taiwan’s Sports Administration said it had filed “a solemn protest against the IBA”.

It accused the IBA, which has effectively been expelled from the Olympic movement, of “continuing to publish false information to mislead the public and attempt to interfere with the Games”.

“The Chinese Taipei Olympic Committee (Taiwan) has retained a lawyer to send a letter of warning to the IBA, and reserves the right to pursue legal action and file a lawsuit if necessary,” the sports administration added.

IOC president Thomas Bach and high-level officials from Algeria and Taiwan have strenuously defended Khelif and Lin, saying they were born and raised as women, and have passports saying that.

Khelif and Lin also fought at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, but did not win a medal and competed without controversy.

The Algerian fights later Tuesday in the semi-finals of the 66kg category and Lin’s last-four bout is on Wednesday in the 57kg division.