Chinese Taipei’s Lin Yu-ting defeated Poland’s Julia Szeremeta to win the Olympic featherweight gold on Saturday.
On Friday Algerian boxer Imane Khelif also won Olympic gold after defeating China’s Yang Liu in the women’s welterweight boxing final.
Their victories comes amid controversy surrounding their gender eligibility.
Lin, who won in a unanimous decision, was one of the athletes disqualified from the Women’s World Boxing Championship in New Delhi last year after failing the International Boxing Association’s (IBA) gender eligibility tests.
RT reports: Commenting on the results, the organization’s president, Umar Kremlev, said the tests “proved they had XY chromosomes and were thus excluded from the sports events.”
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) admitted Lin and Algerian boxer Imane Khelif – who was also disqualified from last year’s tournament – to the Paris Games.
Earlier this month, IOC spokesman Mark Adams claimed that all the athletes “comply with the eligibility rules,” while casting doubt on the tests conducted by the IBA last year. On Friday, Khelif won Olympic gold, defeating China’s Yang Liu in the women’s welterweight finals.
Both Lin and Khelif have been at the center of a heated debate due to their failed DNA tests, with some commentators arguing that it is unfair to allow people with male genetic characteristics to compete against female athletes. Supporters, however, say it is not clear whether the tests found XY chromosomes or elevated testosterone in their blood samples.
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