Boxer Lin Yu-ting of Taiwan has clinched her first Olympic medal in front of a crowd that chanted her name at the Paris Games.

Boxer Lin Yu-ting of Taiwan clinched her first Olympic medal Sunday in front of a crowd that chanted her name at the Paris Games, one day after fellow boxer Imane Khelif of Algeria secured one as well following days of online abuse and intense scrutiny about their participation.

Lin defeated Svetlana Kamenova Staneva of Bulgaria in a women’s 57-kilogram quarterfinal, earning her second straight unanimous decision and advancing to the division’s semifinal round to ensure she will win at least a bronze medal.

Lin and Khelif have been at the center of a clash over gender identity and regulations in sports, as critics have brought up their disqualification from the world championships last year after the banned International Boxing Association claimed they failed unspecified eligibility tests for women’s competition.

  • itslilithEnglish
    102·
    4 months ago

    This has been and still is one of the most disgusting, misinformation-fraught witch hunts I’ve witnessed in a long while. It’s a real mask off moment for a lot of people claiming to be feminists, who are now frothing at the mouth and misgendering cis women for not living up to their arbitrary standards of “feminine”.

    • triptrapper@lemmy.worldEnglish
      34·
      4 months ago

      Well said. In addition to these stories demonizing trans people (or in this case, masc-looking cis people) they also fragilize women. We normally celebrate women in combat sports as feminist symbols, but suddenly we can’t stomach these delicate little angels being beat up.

      I don’t know a ton about boxing, but in MMA fighters made similar comments about fighting Ronda Rousey, Cyborg, Joanna Jedrzeczyk, and Amanda Nunes. “I’ve never been hit that hard.” “She completely overpowered me.”

      We already have a way of separating athletes based on their ability. It’s called competition. Sometimes you’re just outmatched.

      • mosiacmango@lemm.eeEnglish
        15·
        4 months ago

        In addition to these stories demonizing trans people (or in this case, masc-looking cis people)

        This is 100% the point of the outrage. They are demonstrating that just the “potential” of being trans will result in vicious attacks, which signals to actual trans people to hide, even when they don’t have to.

    • iamtrashman1312@lemmy.worldEnglish
      12·
      4 months ago

      100% correct. One of the most frustrating things with talking women’s sports, imo, is the same as talking about abortion: me personally? I’m not a woman. Never have been. Due in no small part to that I don’t think I have any fuckin business deciding what’s best for women, assigned at birth or otherwise.

      I don’t know a lot about boxing either. I’m pretty sure literally anyone competing in Women’s Olympic Boxing could lay me the fuck out. I don’t think what’s in their trunks or what diagnoses any of them may have contribute to that outcome so much as “they’re some of the best people in the world at punching other people”

      • Flying Squid@lemmy.worldMEnglish
        12·
        4 months ago

        I was thinking about something this morning… how many women are going to be turned off of sports by finding out that they have some sort of testing, be it genetic testing or genital examination vs. finding out that there’s a chance they might compete against someone who isn’t a “real” woman? Because I think the former. I think being forced to prove you’re a woman is a far bigger way of discouraging girls and women from competing than the chance they might compete against someone who has some unfair male advantage based on averages.

          • Flying Squid@lemmy.worldMEnglish
            16·
            4 months ago

            So not what was done in the case of Yu-Ting Khelif. Or at least not what they admitted to doing.

            And no, you’re not “either a real biological woman or you’re not.” It’s nowhere near that simple:

    • ShepherdPie@midwest.socialEnglish
      10·
      4 months ago

      Ghouls that will turn around and tell you “life isn’t fair” when you talk about income equality, yet somehow fairness in relatively pointless sports competitions is such a pressing issue.

  • Flying Squid@lemmy.worldMEnglish
    22·
    4 months ago

    If you want me to believe either Lin or Khelif are not women, show me the evidence.

    “I know a woman when I see one” isn’t evidence and neither is “the Russian judge says otherwise.”