The Sports Administration has stressed that Olympic gold medalist Lin Yu-ting (林郁婷) is a woman in response to false claims by US President Donald Trump about her sex and eligibility to compete.
Hung Chih-chang (洪志昌), deputy director-general of the Sports Administration, reiterated on Thursday that Lin was born female and has always competed in women’s competitions, including during the 2024 Paris Olympic Games.
He added that her sex is a separate issue from that of transgender individuals competing in sports events.
Photo: CNA
“The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has also firmly affirmed its support on this issue. We hope the public will spread accurate information and help protect athletes from being subjected to abuse,” he said.
Hung’s statement came after Trump referred to Lin, alongside Imane Khelif of Algeria, while signing his latest executive order titled “Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports” on Wednesday.
“Who could forget last year’s Paris Olympics, where a male boxer stole the women’s gold medal after brutalizing his female opponent so viciously that she had to forfeit just after 46 seconds,” Trump said in reference to Khelif, who won the women’s 66-kg category.
“Actually, there were two individuals who transitioned, and both convincingly won gold medals,” he added, referring to Khelif and Lin, disregarding the fact that the two have never “transitioned” and were both born female.
Regardless of Trump’s stance, it is uncertain if Lin, or any boxer, will compete in Los Angeles because the sport has not yet been included in the 2028 program due to a lack of a governing body recognized by the IOC.
The committee suspended the International Boxing Association (IBA) in 2019 and withdrew recognition in 2023, with interim management handling boxing events in Tokyo and Paris. It has indicated that boxing may not return to the Summer Games in 2028 without a credible, universally recognized governing body.
World Boxing, which Taiwan joined after the Paris Games, is expected to succeed the IBA.
Mauricio Sulaiman, president of the World Boxing Council, recently declared that “the organization has met the necessary requirements to oversee competitions and secure the future of amateur boxing.”
According to InsideTheGames, the IOC is likely to announce its decision on recognizing a governing body by March.
Actress Barbie Hsu (徐熙媛) has “returned home” to Taiwan, and there are no plans to hold a funeral for the TV star who died in Japan from influenza- induced pneumonia, her family said in a statement Wednesday night. The statement was released after local media outlets reported that Barbie Hsu’s ashes were brought back Taiwan on board a private jet, which arrived at Taipei Songshan Airport around 3 p.m. on Wednesday. To the reporters waiting at the airport, the statement issued by the family read “(we) appreciate friends working in the media for waiting in the cold weather.” “She has safely returned home.
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
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
Twenty-four Republican members of the US House of Representatives yesterday introduced a concurrent resolution calling on the US government to abolish the “one China” policy and restore formal diplomatic relations with Taiwan. Led by US representatives Tom Tiffany and Scott Perry, the resolution calls for not only re-establishing formal relations, but also urges the US Trade Representative to negotiate a free-trade agreement (FTA) with Taiwan and for US officials to advocate for Taiwan’s full membership in the UN and other international organizations. In a news release announcing the resolution, Tiffany, who represents a Wisconsin district, called the “one China” policy “outdated, counterproductive