People should continue to cheer for Taiwanese boxer Lin Yu-ting (林郁婷) at the Olympics Games in Paris today, despite British writer J.K. Rowling’s remarks against her, the Sports Administration said in a statement on Wednesday.
Rowling recently shared on X a story from the Guardian about Lin and Algerian boxer Imane Khelif being cleared to compete in the Olympic Games in Paris this year despite having failed gender eligibility tests at the International Boxing Association Women’s World Boxing Championships in New Delhi last year.
“What will it take to end this insanity? A female boxer left with life-altering injuries? A female boxer killed?” Rowling wrote.
Photo: Chen Chih-chu, Taipei Times
Hergie Bacyadan of the Philippines, who identifies as a man, but fights in women’s competitions — including in Paris in the under-75kg category — said that athletes with XY chromosomes should not be allowed to compete in women’s boxing, although they should be permitted to spar with other female fighters.
Lin and Khelif were granted permission to compete in Paris by the International Olympic Committee (IOC).
Former world featherweight champion Barry McGuigan also weighed in on the reaction to Lin and Khelif being allowed to compete.
“It’s shocking that they were actually allowed to get this far, what is going on?” McGuigan wrote on X.
Sports Administration Director-General James Cheng (鄭世忠) said that Lin secured the right to compete in Paris after winning gold at the 2022 Asian Games in Hangzhou, China, which was held last year because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Lin has been subjected to doping and other tests just as other athletes have and did not encounter any issues, Cheng said.
“These discriminatory remarks might be strategically placed in the news media to distract Lin,” he said. “We understand that athletes have the right to speak up for themselves, but they might do so without having a full grasp of the details of the situation.”
The IOC on Monday said in a statement that “all athletes participating in the boxing tournament of the Olympic Games Paris 2024 comply with the competition’s eligibility and entry regulations, as well as all applicable medical regulations.”
Lin is qualified to compete because the Asian Olympic Games Medical Committee conducted a complete set of tests during the Asian Games, Cheng said.
Cheng said that he has asked Lin’s coach to help boost her morale ahead of her first bout today.
“We hope that people would continue to support and cheer for our athletes while they are competing in Paris,” he said.
Lin underwent a series of tests after returning from New Delhi last year, with the results not a bar to competing at the Asian Games in October last year.
IOC spokesman Mark Adams told reporters in Paris on Tuesday that everyone competing in the women’s category was in compliance with the eligibility rules.
“They [Lin and Khelif] are women in their passports and it is stated that is the case,” Adams said. “They are eligible by the rules of the [International Boxing] Federation, which were set in 2016, and which worked for Tokyo, too, to compete as women, which is what they are. And we fully support that.”
Lin lives in New Taipei City’s Yingge District (鶯歌).
New Taipei City Councilor Cho Kuan-ting (卓冠廷), who represents the district, yesterday said that he had the privilege of getting to know Lin, her mother and other relatives over the past few years.
“Lin is registered as a female on her birth certificate. The test result from last year was not even about chromosomes,” Cho said. “It took her years of hard work to get to where she is today, and we should applaud and cheer for her enthusiastic and explosive performance in the boxing ring. She has proven herself to be the pride of Taiwan.”
“The Olympic Games should be a platform where top athletes compete, rather than bullying one another,” he said. “Let’s treasure and support Lin.”
A Vietnamese migrant worker on Thursday won the NT$12 million (US$383,590) jackpot on a scratch-off lottery ticket she bought from a lottery shop in Changhua County’s Puyan Township (埔鹽), Taiwan Lottery Co said yesterday. The lottery winner, who is in her 30s and married, said she would continue to work in Taiwan and send her winnings to her family in Vietnam to improve their life. More Taiwanese and migrant workers have flocked to the lottery shop on Sec 2 of Jhangshuei Road (彰水路) to share in the luck. The shop owner, surnamed Chen (陳), said that his shop has been open for just
Global bodies should stop excluding Taiwan for political reasons, President William Lai (賴清德) told Pope Francis in a letter, adding that he agrees war has no winners. The Vatican is one of only 12 countries to retain formal diplomatic ties with Taiwan, and Taipei has watched with concern efforts by Beijing and the Holy See to improve ties. In October, the Vatican and China extended an accord on the appointment of Catholic bishops in China for four years, pointing to a new level of trust between the two parties. Lai, writing to the pope in response to the pontiff’s message on Jan. 1’s
TAKE BREAKS: A woman developed cystitis by refusing to get up to use the bathroom while playing mahjong for fear of disturbing her winning streak, a doctor said People should stand up and move around often while traveling or playing mahjong during the Lunar New Year holiday, as prolonged sitting can lead to cystitis or hemorrhoids, doctors said. Yuan’s General Hospital urologist Lee Tsung-hsi (李宗熹) said that he treated a 63-year-old woman surnamed Chao (趙) who had been sitting motionless and holding off going to the bathroom, increasing her risk of bladder infection. Chao would drink beverages and not urinate for several hours while playing mahjong with friends and family, especially when she was on a winning streak, afraid that using the bathroom would ruin her luck, he said. She had
MUST REMAIN FREE: A Chinese takeover of Taiwan would lead to a global conflict, and if the nation blows up, the world’s factories would fall in a week, a minister said Taiwan is like Prague in 1938 facing Adolf Hitler; only if Taiwan remains free and democratic would the world be safe, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Francois Wu (吳志中) said in an interview with Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera. The ministry on Saturday said Corriere della Sera is one of Italy’s oldest and most read newspapers, frequently covers European economic and political issues, and that Wu agreed to an interview with the paper’s senior political analyst Massimo Franco in Taipei on Jan. 3. The interview was published on Jan. 26 with the title “Taiwan like Prague in 1938 with Hitler,” the ministry
RSS