VILLEPINTE, France – Lin Yu-ting won her quarterfinal bout at the Paris Olympics against Bulgaria’s Svetlana Staneva in a unanimous decision on Sunday that secured a medal for the featherweight representing Chinese Taipei.
Lin said she focused on preparing for the fight, apparently ignoring unfounded questions about her gender and eligibility to compete as a woman.
She thanked her coaches for their training and for sacrificing time away from her family. The fighter also said she appreciates her fans in Taiwan and promised to return a series of messages sent to her on social media after the Olympics.
“I want to especially thank the Taiwanese public for supporting me and cheering me on, even though I don’t have time to respond to all the messages you sent,” she said after the fight.
Lin appeared to hold back tears, telling reporters that the guarantee of a medal is not enough and that she will not be satisfied with anything less than gold.
“Today it is not a period, a period, but a comma,” she said. “Our objective has not yet been achieved. So we can’t give up on any opportunity, I’ll keep fighting.”
Lin and Imane Khelif of Algeria faced close scrutiny during these Olympics, based on their 2023 disqualifications by the Russian-led International Boxing Association who claimed that unspecified tests questioned the boxers’ gender.
The IOC has firmly defended the boxers, saying concerns about their gender are unfounded. The legitimacy of the IBA has since been questioned, with USA Boxing ending your relationship with the body last year.
Calls for Lin to be kicked out of the tournament are completely unnecessary, according to a statement from the fighter Olympic Organizing Committee.
“The Chinese Taipei delegation strongly condemns malicious online abuse and personal attacks and calls for an immediate end to these behaviors,” the statement said.
In it to fight on SundayLin got off to a slow start against Staneva, as three judges scored the first round 10-9 for the eventual winner and two others had it 10-9 for the Bulgarian.
But then all five judges scored it 10-9 for Lin in the next two rounds, guaranteeing a semi-final appearance. She will face Türkiye’s Esra Yıldız Kahraman in Wednesday night with the winner advancing to the gold medal round in Saturday night.
Staneva refused to speak to reporters after the fight.
This tournament awards two bronze medals instead of a third-place match. Therefore, qualifying for the semi-finals means a prize to take home.
This story originally appeared on NBCNews.com read the full story
