- Boxing. Lin Yu-ting of Taiwan clinches first Olympic medal amid outcry tied to gender misconceptions
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Svetlana Staneva has done little to alleviate the storm surrounding women's boxing at the 2024 Olympic Games with a controversial, cryptic gesture with a massive meaning after she was beaten by Taiwan's Lin Yu-Ting.
The Bulgarian lost via unanimous decision in the featherweight quarterfinals and took a swipe at the perceived gender ambiguity concerning Lin and Algeria's Imane Khelif, who are both born females with higher testosterone levels than a typical woman.
After her defeat was announced, Staneva gestured an X symbol with her fingers to suggest that she only has the XX chromosomes found in women whilst not-so-subtly saying her opponent has XY, parroting the claim of the International Boxing Association's (IBA) President.
The IBA banned Khelif and Lin from the World Championships in 2023 after subjecting them to a "recognized" test of which they claimed proved the two women had unfair advantages, although they never published the results of them or specified what the tests were.
It's thought that Khelif and Lin both suffer a differentiation of sex disorder, which can give them XY chromosomes and/or higher levels of testosterone despite them being born and raised as women. They are not transgender; not do they identify as trans either.
Yet despite being born women, people claim that both of them should be unable to fight by arguing that it is unfair to other competitors although the International Olympic Committee rubbished calls to toss them out.
Controversial boxers guarantee medals
Lin will bring a medal back to Taiwan with the victory over her Bulgarian rival on August 3 and so will Khelif for Algeria, after she defeated Hungary's Anna Luca Hamori through three rounds.
The victories came just hours after the IOC President Thomas Bach reaffirmed they are women, and they have the right to compete in women's boxing and Khelif left no ambiguity concerning her own gender.
"I dedicate this medal to the world,"" Khelif said post-fight. "And to all the Arabs and I tell you, 'Long live Algeria!'
"I want to tell the entire world that I am a female, and I will remain a female."