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.”
Taiwan has received more than US$70 million in royalties as of the end of last year from developing the F-16V jet as countries worldwide purchase or upgrade to this popular model, government and military officials said on Saturday. Taiwan funded the development of the F-16V jet and ended up the sole investor as other countries withdrew from the program. Now the F-16V is increasingly popular and countries must pay Taiwan a percentage in royalties when they purchase new F-16V aircraft or upgrade older F-16 models. The next five years are expected to be the peak for these royalties, with Taiwan potentially earning
STAY IN YOUR LANE: As the US and Israel attack Iran, the ministry has warned China not to overstep by including Taiwanese citizens in its evacuation orders The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday rebuked a statement by China’s embassy in Israel that it would evacuate Taiwanese holders of Chinese travel documents from Israel amid the latter’s escalating conflict with Iran. Tensions have risen across the Middle East in the wake of US and Israeli airstrikes on Iran beginning Saturday. China subsequently issued an evacuation notice for its citizens. In a news release, the Chinese embassy in Israel said holders of “Taiwan compatriot permits (台胞證)” issued to Taiwanese nationals by Chinese authorities for travel to China — could register for evacuation to Egypt. In Taipei, the ministry yesterday said Taiwan
Taiwan is awaiting official notification from the US regarding the status of the Agreement on Reciprocal Trade (ART) after the US Supreme Court ruled US President Donald Trump's global tariffs unconstitutional. Speaking to reporters before a legislative hearing today, Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) said that Taiwan's negotiation team remains focused on ensuring that the bilateral trade deal remains intact despite the legal challenge to Trump's tariff policy. "The US has pledged to notify its trade partners once the subsequent administrative and legal processes are finalized, and that certainly includes Taiwan," Cho said when asked about opposition parties’ doubts that the ART was
If China chose to invade Taiwan tomorrow, it would only have to sever three undersea fiber-optic cable clusters to cause a data blackout, Jason Hsu (許毓仁), a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute and former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislator, told a US security panel yesterday. In a Taiwan contingency, cable disruption would be one of the earliest preinvasion actions and the signal that escalation had begun, he said, adding that Taiwan’s current cable repair capabilities are insufficient. The US-China Economic and Security Review Commission (USCC) yesterday held a hearing on US-China Competition Under the Sea, with Hsu speaking on
RSS