Taiwan’s Lin Yu-ting won the women’s boxing final at the Paris Olympics in style on Saturday, ensuring both fighters in the middle of a major gender row take home the gold.
A day after Algeria’s Imane Khelif won gold at 66kg, Lin sobbed on the podium after claiming the 57kg crown with a unanimous points decision victory over Poland’s Julia Szeremeta.
It was Taiwan’s second gold of the Games and Lin bowed to all four sides of the arena before kneeling down and pounding the canvas with her fists.
“I feel incredible. I want to thank everyone who supported me and thank my team and everyone in Taiwan,” said the 28-year-old, who won all four matches unanimously in Paris.
“They gave me power.
Lin kept her composure at the start of the medal ceremony before breaking down in tears and sobbing as she stood on the podium.
Lin and Khelif have been under intense scrutiny for much of the past two weeks in an uproar that has drawn outrage from the likes of Donald Trump and Harry Potter author JK Rowling.
Both boxers were disqualified from last year’s world championships after failing gender eligibility testing, with Lin stripped of her bronze just to compete in the French capital.
Lin, who like Khelif competed without controversy at the Tokyo Olympics three years ago, was cheered in the 15,000-seat Court Philippe-Chatrier at Roland Garros and again when her name was read out.
The Taiwanese entered the ring and enjoyed a height advantage of 10 centimeters over Szeremet, Lin used her greater reach to land a jab from the opening bell.
Lin momentarily had the more compact Pole backing up against the ropes with a flurry of punches. With a minute left in the first round, he advanced to the scorecards of all five judges. The second round was more of a tussle but Lin kept her cool and her advantage before sealing the deal in the third and final round, although the 20-year-old Pole refused to go quietly.
