Lin and Algerian boxer Imane Kherif were embroiled in a controversy over their biological sex at the 2024 Paris Olympics.
Published March 21, 2026
Olympic gold medal-winning Taiwanese boxer Lin Yuting has been allowed to return to competition at the Asian Boxing Championships after undergoing a gender eligibility review.
World Boxing, the Olympic-level sport’s governing body, announced the decision on Friday ahead of the Asian Championships, which begin in Mongolia on March 29.
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Algeria’s Lin and Imane Kherif won gold at the 2024 Paris Olympics amid international scrutiny and misunderstanding of both boxers’ gender.
Both athletes met the eligibility rules followed by the International Olympic Committee (IOC), which ran the Paris Games at the time, but their success sparked a political debate over those criteria.
World Boxing took over as the sport’s governing body last year and introduced a gender eligibility policy last August, requiring all fighters to undergo a single genetic test to determine the presence of the Y chromosome.
Lin has missed several international tournaments since World Boxing introduced testing last summer. World Boxing did not disclose Lin’s test results, but said in a statement that the Chinese Taipei Boxing Association had begun an appeals process against one of its boxers following a test last year.
“We recognize that this is a difficult time for boxers and the CTBA, and we appreciate their approach to the appeals process and their recognition of World Boxing’s demands to ensure that World Boxing’s eligibility regulations, which are designed to achieve safety and integrity in the sport, are properly implemented and adhered to,” World Boxing General Secretary Tom Dielen said in a statement.
The Taiwan Boxing Association said the decision was a “huge relief” for Lin.
“We are pleased that World Boxing’s independent medical experts have thoroughly reviewed all the evidence and confirmed that she was female from birth,” it said in a statement.
Lin said in a statement: “I will make my long-awaited return to the ring at the Asian Boxing Championships.”
Kerif has also not competed in any sanctioned world boxing competition since the tests were carried out, but has regularly expressed his desire to return to the sport at Olympic level.
Kerif is also scheduled to make his professional boxing debut in April, but professional fighters are now allowed to compete in the Olympics.
Lin and Kerif have been excluded from the 2023 World Championships after the International Boxing Association (IBA) announced they had failed eligibility tests.
But the IOC said they were victims of a “sudden and arbitrary decision by the IBA” and allowed them to compete in Paris.
Chromosomal testing was common in Olympic sports in the 20th century, but was largely abandoned in the 1990s due to numerous ambiguities that cannot be easily resolved by tests collectively known as differences in sex development.
In addition to the appeals process, World Boxing said it will provide additional analysis and evaluation for athletes with Y chromosome genetic material who wish to compete in the women’s category, including genetic screening, hormonal profiles, anatomical examinations and further evaluation of endocrine profiles by medical professionals.
