Lin Yuting won a medal in her first competition since gender eligibility issues overshadowed her Olympic victory.
Published April 7, 2026
Taiwan’s Lin Yuting won a bronze medal at the Asian Boxing Elite Championship in her first tournament since gender eligibility issues overshadowed her performance for Olympic gold at the 2024 Paris Games.
The 30-year-old athlete, who moved up to the 60kg weight class after winning Olympic gold in the 57kg weight class, lost to North Korea’s Won Eun-kyung in the semi-finals on Monday, finishing with a bronze medal.
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“After all, this is the first time we will compete in the 60kg category after the Olympics,” Lin’s coach Tseng Tzu-chen told Taiwan’s Central News Agency.
“Our opponents’ skills, strategies and styles are all new to us, so we decided to take this opportunity to observe and learn.”
Lin chose not to compete in the world championships last year after governing body World Boxing announced it would require gender testing for female boxers as part of a new eligibility policy.
The policy was introduced a year after Lin and Algerian Imane Kherif both won gold medals at the Paris Olympics amid gender controversy.
Last month, Lin was allowed to compete in the women’s division by the World Boxing Association following an appeal from the Taiwanese federation, paving the way for her return at the Asian Championships in Mongolia.
Tseng said she aims to compete in the Asian Games in Nagoya, Japan, later this year.
“Yuting hasn’t played in a match for a long time, but it was clear that his physical condition was not up to standard. Losing this time is not a bad thing. At least there is room for improvement and the path forward is clear,” he added.
Transgender female athletes will be excluded from women’s Olympic events after the International Olympic Committee (IOC) agreed to a new eligibility policy that aligns with US President Donald Trump’s executive order on sports ahead of the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.
Last month, the IOC announced that “eligibility for competitions in the women’s category at the Olympic Games and other IOC events (including individual and team events) will be limited to biological women,” noting that this is determined by genetic testing, which is mandatory at least once in an athlete’s career.
