Boxer who failed gender test cleared for Olympics, competes in same weight class as Petecio

Vaunted foes stand in the way of Nesthy Petecio in her golden quest in the Paris Olympics, and the field includes one who got disqualified from the previous world championships for failing a gender eligibility test.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) said on Monday, July 29, that Chinese Taipei’s Lin Yu-ting is eligible for the Games as she competes in the same women’s 57kg category as Petecio.

Lin relinquished the bronze she won in the Women’s World Boxing Championships last year in New Delhi, India, following her disqualification after failing to meet the eligibility criteria of the International Boxing Association (IBA).

Algeria’s Imane Khelif, who also got disqualified from the world championships hours before her gold-medal bout in the women’s 66kg division, has been cleared to see action in the Olympics as well.

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IBA president Umar Kremlev told Russian news agency TASS at the time that the boxers had “XY chromosomes.”

But IBA, which organizes the world championships, is no longer the federation recognized by the IOC.

For this Olympics, the boxing competition is organized by the Paris Boxing Unit (PBU), an ad-hoc unit established by the IOC’s executive board.

“All athletes participating in the boxing tournament of the Olympic Games Paris 2024 comply with the competition’s eligibility and entry regulations, as well as all applicable medical regulations in accordance with rules 1.4 and 3.1 of the Paris 2024 Boxing Unit,” the IOC said in a statement.

“The PBU endeavored to restrict amendments to minimize the impact on athletes’ preparation and guaranteeing consistency between Olympic Games.”

A two-time world champion and the reigning Asian Games titlist, top seed Lin drew a first-round bye and will open her campaign in the round of 16 on Friday, August 2, against the winner between Congo’s Marcelat Sakobi and Uzbekistan’s Sitora Turdibekova.

She is in the opposite bracket as Petecio, who will see action on Tuesday, July 30, against India’s Jaismine Lamboria in the round of 32.

Petecio beat Lin in the round of 16 in the Tokyo Olympics on the way to a silver finish, but the Filipina bowed to the Taiwanese in her opening bout in the Asian Games last year in Hangzhou, China.