Taiwanese boxer Lin Yu-ting collapses after winning Olympic gold

PARIS (AP) — Lin Yu-ting has fought to remain calm and collected throughout the Paris Olympic Games boxing tournament, even when it seemed that most of the world’s chatterboxes were slandering her, distorting her, and questioning the very nature of her being.

The flyweight shut down her social media, continued her training and focused on getting one win after another.

But when she heard Taiwan’s anthem as she stood on the top step of the podium at Roland Garros with a gold medal around her neck, Lin suddenly burst into cathartic tears.

She wept not only for the tumult of the past two weeks, but for a lifetime of boxing that culminated in this gold medal victory over previously unfathomable odds.

“I saw images in my head and I thought about the beginning of my career, when I started boxing,” Lin said. “All the hard training, the times I got injured, the opponents I fought. All these images flashed through my head. There were moments of great pain, others of great joy. I cried because I was so touched.”

Lin completed his division domination on Saturday night, after Imane Khelif The day before, she had given a resounding response to the scrutiny both fighters faced in the ring and around the world because of misconceptions about their femininity.

Lin beat Poland’s Julia Szeremeta 5-0 in the final, capping her four-fight unbeaten run in Paris by winning Taiwan’s first Olympic boxing gold medal.

Friday, Khelif wins Algeria’s first women’s boxing medal with a decisive victory in the welterweight division final, defeating Yang Liu of China.

Both fighters have persevered despite an avalanche of criticism and ill-informed speculation about their sexuality for the Paris tournament to achieve the best performances of their boxing career.

“Not all fights are easy,” Lin said. “Winning 5-0 may seem easy, but it takes a lot of training and hard work.”

World leaders, celebrities and online critics have tried to portray the event in a different light than the boxers’ years of work.

Critics have either questioned their eligibility to compete in women’s competitions or falsely claimed they were men, forcing both women into unwelcome starring roles in a debate about changing attitudes toward gender identity and safety regulations in sport.

Lin said she has minimized this potentially huge distraction by managing to avoid hearing about it almost entirely. She also said she will discuss with her team whether to take legal action against some of the allegations.

“As a high-level athlete, it’s important to isolate myself from social media during competition,” she said. “It’s extremely important. I’ve heard some rumors or some press articles through my coach, but I didn’t pay too much attention to them. And I was invited by the IOC to participate in the Games. That’s what I focused on.”

Both fighters were disqualified last year from the world championships organized by the International Boxing Association, a governing body dominated by Russia who has been banned from the Olympic Games since 2019.

The IBA said it had failed an eligibility test for the women’s competitionBut she has struggled to defend her claims since they resurfaced at the Olympics, sometimes giving contradictory information or saying that national boxing federations had asked her not to give details. That hasn’t stopped criticism and speculation from proliferating online, fueled by Russian disinformation networks.

Critics of the two boxers include former US President Donald Trump, “Harry Potter” author JK Rowling and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni. Their presence in Paris has become a weapon in a largely Western cultural conflict over women’s eligibility for the sport.

Khelif said a gold medal would be the “best answer” to the outcry. Both fighters had the last laugh in Paris, though the discussions and scrutiny could continue for the rest of their careers.

Lin had not been as dominant or as dynamic as Khelif in Paris, but she rolled steadily towards the final as the top seed in the -57kg category. Lin, who is 5’9″, is typically taller and slimmer than her opponents, and she uses those advantages to defeat them with skill and angles, rather than strength or power.

That’s exactly what Lin did to Szeremeta after stepping into the ring Saturday to thunderous cheers and dozens of Chinese Taipei Olympic-style flags flying in the stands, with millions more cheering at home.

Lin used her long left jab early on, keeping Szeremeta at bay and setting up combinations. Lin’s hands were quicker and more active, and she dominated the first two rounds with a multitude of clean shots.

Lin easily won the fight, deftly dodging a few slow-moving punches from Szeremeta without counterattacking in the final minute. Szeremeta had a bloodied face and a mark under his right eye at the end of the fight.

After raising her hand and holding the ropes open for Szeremeta to leave in a typical boxing and sportsmanship gesture, Lin went to the center of the ring, knelt on the Paris 2024 logo and touched the canvas with her head.

After leaving the ring, Lin happily carried one of his trainers on his back. Before stepping onto the podium, Lin placed his hand over his heart and raised it high above his head.

Lin, 29, has built a solid career as a top-level Olympic-style boxer, winning world championships in 2018 and 2022. She reached the semifinals of last year’s world championships before the IBA disqualified her and stripped her of a bronze medal.

While Khelif was frank In the face of criticism, Lin has been more circumspect in her public handling of the scandal. Her opponents in the quarterfinals and semifinals in Paris displayed restrained sportsmanship, but they also made clear that they believed Lin should not have been eligible to compete.

But Lin has been strongly supported by the Parisian public and by her home country, notably by its former president, Tsai Ing-wen, who posted a message of support on social media.

“I feel incredibly good,” Lin said. “I want to thank everyone who supported me, as well as my team and everyone in Taiwan. They gave me power.”

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AP Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/2024-paris-olympic-games