Taiwanese boxer Lin Yu-ting (林郁婷) advances to the gold-medal match despite the IBA’s claims regarding her sex.
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Unfazed by a whirlwind of debate over her sex and claims that she should be unable to compete in women’s events, Taiwanese boxer Lin Yu-ting (林郁婷) won her match against Turkey’s Esra Yildiz Kahraman, advancing her to the women’s 57-kilogram final. Spectators are saying Yildiz Kahraman did not take her defeat gracefully, as she made a derogatory gesture aimed at casting doubt on Lin’s sex.
Lin is guaranteed at least a silver medal following her upcoming match against Poland’s Julia Szeremeta. Fans tuning in to the semifinal from Taiwan in the early hours of the morning were not left disappointed as they witnessed Lin become the first Taiwanese boxer to make it to an Olympic final match.
After the victory, Lin’s coach Tseng Tzu-chiang (曾自強) offered some insight into how they approached the match, also explaining that Lin’s smile during the third round appeared in anticipation of her win given that she had won the previous two rounds.
Following her defeat, Esra Yildiz Kahraman made an “X” with her fingers, displaying the sign to the crowd, which spectators found mirrored Bulgaria’s Svetlana Staneva’s gesture following her defeat to Lin in the quarterfinal, and interpreted it as suggesting she has a pair of X chromosomes, while Lin does not.
Tseng has been coaching Lin for over 15 years, during which he says they have grown from not daring to dream, to dreaming, to feeling like the dream had been destroyed, to now feeling like the dream is within reach.
Tseng and Lin took a walk along the Seine, where he reminded her to stay calm, and that everyone will support her no matter what.
The final match will take place August 11 at 3:30 a.m. Taiwan time.