IIt was a heroic welcome for Imane Kerif, who returned to Algiers from Paris. A parade of open-top buses on a humid night. After a meeting with President Abdelmadjid Tebboune at El Mouradia Palace, she was awarded the honorary title of Major in the Algerian Army.
On the other side of the world, the celebrations were a little more muted, but Lin Yuting, hailed by the president as “Taiwan’s daughter,” was the guest of honor at a lavish banquet hosted by sponsor Umark Enterprises.
Both athletes finished the Olympic Games as stars at home, despite the international uproar over their gold medal-winning performances. Kerif in the women’s 66kg boxing class and Lin in the women’s 57kg class.
The protests were sparked by the International Boxing Association’s (IBA) disqualification from the previous year’s world championships for failing a gender test. The Y chromosome was identified in two blood samples. Both women were registered as female at birth but did not meet the eligibility criteria for the female category.
Although noisy and with little clarity, differential sex development (DSD) describes a group of conditions that occur early in pregnancy when sexual development is atypical. Some people with DSDs have XY sex chromosomes and blood testosterone levels in the male range, even though they were raised female.
The International Olympic Committee (IOC), at loggerheads with the IBA over Russia’s funding and governance failures, refuses to recognize the IBA’s conclusions, so the two men have passports as proof of their womanhood and their It had a long history of fighting. Boxers fought in the Olympics and won.
“I’ve never been hit so badly in my life,” Italy’s Angela Carini said after withdrawing from her first-round match against Kerif, 25. The coach of Lin’s opponent, Svetlana Staneva, whom she lost in the quarterfinals, told reporters: “If the test shows that she has a Y chromosome, she shouldn’t be here.” .
For many boxers who win gold medals, the Olympics could be the start of something special. The story of Kerif and Lin’s post-medal career divergence is perhaps due to a desire for potentially lucrative global sensations and a chaotically run boxing industry when it comes to biological sex and gender issues. It may be telling a more sober story about the turmoil in the sport.
The eldest of six children from a family of poor shepherds in the central Algerian village of Biban Mesbah, Kherif was described by friends as sociable and friendly, although a little confused. Roumaysa Bouaram, a boxer on the Algerian Olympic team, said she was “shy, funny, a little naive, liked to play pranks and had a girl’s heart.” She also seems to have an eye for the finer things in life.
After Paris, Kerif’s first public appearance was at Milan Fashion Week, sitting in the front row next to actor Julianne Moore. This was followed by a fashion shoot for Vogue Arabia, where Kerif proclaimed that she embodies a “new era of beauty.” She appeared on the cover of the magazine wearing a black Loewe jumpsuit. Negotiations are said to be underway with a major streaming platform, believed to be Netflix, to chronicle her rise to fame in a documentary series. There’s money to be made and she’s making it, but what about boxing?
There was also talk that Kerif would contest his IBA disqualification to continue his amateur career. Libby Payne, a lawyer with law firm Withers, said in an August Legal Week article that she had been working on the case with Kerif since March last year. “I would say any decision to exclude someone without having a policy in place is a very contestable one,” she said.
IBA chief executive Chris Roberts said he had no knowledge of any such legal challenge. “This is nonsense. I haven’t heard anything from either of these two (Kerif and Lin),” he said. “We did what we had to do and we told the IOC what happened. We told them that we understand that they are not eligible and they (IOC) continue to allow them. If you have nothing to hide, there is no need to lie. There is no direct legal challenge against us. If you feel that way, go for it. That’s totally fine.”
“Unfortunately, we are not in a position to discuss Imane’s situation at this time,” a Wizards spokesperson said.
John Dennen, former editor-in-chief of Boxing News, said Keriff, who has a trainer in the United States who handles both amateur and professional competition, would rather turn professional in a jurisdiction where the summer turmoil would not be a hindrance. He said he was holding her.
“I think she’s on her way to turning pro, or considering how and where to turn pro,” he said. “In the United States,[gender eligibility rules]are all state-by-state, and different rulings can be made based on different state sports commissions. And in the case of boxing, there are a lot of It’s about groups coming up with rules that work for them. If you really want to do it, you can always find a place to box or someone to box.”
That is clearly not the path Lin, 29, has chosen, as he has made it clear he is hoping for further glory at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics. She avoided media attention and offered little insight into her thinking about the extraordinary situation. This happened over the summer, when Donald Trump also criticized her presence. Instead, she took on the role of teaching “boxing” and “sports skills training” as an assistant professor at the School of Physical Education of China Culture University. It is said that she intended to read for her Ph.D.
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In the closest thing to a personal statement regarding the summer’s uproar, Lin has taken on the role of “anti-bullying” ambassador at local schools. However, the Republic of China’s (Taiwan) Ministry of Education did not respond to questions about Trump’s role, in a sign that he may be less willing to highlight bullying issues now that he is back in the White House. More importantly for Lin’s aspirations and the sport as a whole, her first attempt to return to boxing ended in such a mess that it gave little guarantee that boxing could solve this difficult problem. .
The rift between the IOC and IBA has led to rival boxing federations sanctioning amateur bouts as they try to win support from national bodies to host matches at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.
The new organization, named World Boxing, hosted the World Boxing Cup in Sheffield at the end of November. Lin flew to England to compete in public for the first time since the Olympic final. Just before the tournament, the Taiwan Sports Administration issued a statement to the media saying that she would not be participating.
“She is a woman, met all the eligibility criteria, and competed in the women’s boxing competition (in Paris) and won a gold medal,” the newspaper said. “Unfortunately, as World Boxing has just been established and its governing mechanisms are still under development, it lacks a clear regulatory policy from the IOC that guarantees the protection of athlete rights. The Board has not yet established robust confidentiality procedures to protect the medical information submitted by Taiwan regarding Lin Yuting.
The fighter had offered to undergo a “comprehensive on-site medical examination,” but World Boxing declined and the Taiwanese decided to “proactively withdraw from this event” to avoid further “damage.” ”. This was a puzzling development for World Boxing officials, who had maintained that Lin was eligible to fight. “World Boxing’s current eligibility policy does not prevent Lin Yuting from participating in the World Boxing Cup,” a spokesperson said. “The selection decision was made by the national federations and no boxers were entered into the competition.”
What scared the Taiwanese? Was Lynn aware that new controversy was inevitable in Sheffield? Neither of them could explain it. However, these events, as well as World Boxing’s announcement that it will establish a working group to review its gender eligibility rules, have raised new questions about Lin’s ability to return to the ring, with plans to return to the ring early in the new year. A report is scheduled.
“At World Boxing, we put our boxers first and the safety of our athletes is absolutely our top priority,” a spokesperson said. The announcement will inevitably also raise questions about whether Kerif will be available for September’s World Championship in Liverpool, as the Algerian had hinted before turning professional.
As the golden year of 2024 comes to a close for Kerif and Lin, there are bound to be some questions about whether the two boxers will fight again, or at least in which arena. However, to the great surprise of many, they always retain their memories of returning home.
