- Both boxers have been selected as flag-bearers for countries Algeria and Taiwan
- Imane Khelif won the women’s light-welterweight gold on Friday
- Lin Yu-tin took featherweight gold on Saturday
- Khelif and Yu-tin have been central to a gender dispute marring the 2024 Games
The two boxers at the heart of the Paris Games’ gender row, are set to carry their countries’ flags at the Olympic closing ceremony on Sunday evening.
Algeria’s Imane Khelif, and Taiwan‘s Lin Yu-ting, have been selected as their nation’s flag bearers after the duo both won boxing gold in the past week.
Both boxers have been the intense focus of a gender dispute over the past two weeks, which has seen their eligibility to compete in the women’s category of the sport questioned.
They’ve both had to endure bullying, online harassment, and ridicule on their road to gold, yet prevailed to take home the biggest prize in the sport’s amateur code.
Khelif stormed to light-welterweight gold on Friday, while Lin Yu-ting, dominated her Chinese opponent in the featherweight final, just 24 hours later.
Khelif (left) defeated China’s Liu Yang by unanimous decision in Friday’s welterweight final
Imane Khelif won a gold medal for Algeria in the women’s welterweight event on Friday night
Some fans feel their selection as flag bearers is not just warranted because of their competitive accomplishments, but a thumb from the nose to critics and agitators who have perpetuated rumours they were not eligible to compete.
The gender row began at the start of the 2024 Paris Games, when both women’s eligibility to compete was called into doubt.
Khelif, it was claimed, was a transgender athlete now competing in the women’s category, after she forced her first opponent, Italian Angela Carini, to quit in the opening stages of their contest.
Last year, the Algerian had been banned from progressing through last year’s World Championships, by the IBA, the sport’s international governing body.
Lin Yu-Ting, similarly, had failed an IBA gender test and was kicked out of the same World Championships.
However, inconsistencies in IBA testing protocols have been highlighted, as have the influence of the Russian contingent within its rank-and-file, who taken a hardline against gender issues.
Both boxers are classified as having Differences of Sexual Disorder, which is 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.
On Friday, Olympics chief Thomas Bach defended the right of both to box in Paris, but added that he would be the first to adopt an agreed ‘scientifically solid system’.’
‘This system is working and so therefore our decision is clear,’ he said. ‘Women should be allowed to take part in women’s competitions and the two are women. For now, victory is Khelif’s.’
Khelif, who took an instant call from the country’s president, also had a political message. ‘I want to tell the world that they should commit to the Olympic principles and they should not bully people,’ she said.
‘This is the message of the Olympics. I hope people stop bullying. We are in the Olympic to perform as athletes, to our families. I hope will not see any similar attacks in future.’
Lin Yu-Ting is an Olympic champion after winning the women’s featherweight gold in Paris
Lin’s hand was raised after winning all three rounds to beat Szeremeta by unanimous decision
The IOC said in a statement last week: ‘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.
It’s believed the row has influenced Thomas Bach’s decision to step-down as IOC president
There is no evidence either women had been through male puberty.
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.’
And it’s believed the row has played a considerable role in the decision by IOC president, Thomas Bach, to announce he’ll be stepping-down from his position next year.
Bach’s summer has been dominated by questions over the IOC’s decision to allow Imane Khelif and Lin Yu-Ting to compete in this summer’s Olympics.
The boxers were alleged by the Russia-dominated International Boxing Association to have failed a gender test which led to them being banned from their World Championships.
But the Olympics president has remained steadfastly behind the decision and recently defended the right of both to box at the Games.
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