‘I Only Want To Play With Women’: Boxer, Coach Stage Protest After Losing To Fighter Who Failed Gender Tests

A female Olympic boxer from Bulgaria and her coach staged a protest in the ring after losing to a controversial opponent, Lin Yu‑ting of Taiwan, who failed past gender tests. 

Svetlana Staneva made an “X” gesture two times with her hands after the match on Sunday – an apparent reference to having XX chromosomes as a female. And the fighter’s coach, Borislav Georgiev, shared a note with the press that read, “I only want to play with women I am XX.” 

According to The Washington Post, Georgiev said he wrote the note but indicated that he was speaking on behalf of Staneva, who did not talk to the press. 

Lin, according to the International Boxing Association (IBA), failed two gender tests and has the chromosomal pattern of a male, XY. 

A fourth female boxer is knocked out of the Olympics by a male.

A defiant Staneva signals the anger we all feel ????

“I am XX. I am a woman”#paris2024 #fairplayforwomen#SaveWomensSports pic.twitter.com/W6cs4pwRTo

— FairPlayForWomen (@fairplaywomen) August 4, 2024

As highlighted by The Daily Wire, the IBA held a press conference on Monday to address the controversy surrounding Lin and another Olympic boxer, Imane Khelif of Algeria.

Despite both boxers previously failing IBA gender tests, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) has permitted them to fight against biological females and has repeatedly issued statements asserting that Lin and Khelif are women.

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IBA CEO Chris Roberts said during the presser that a blood test in 2019 showed that the fighters had “inconsistent” results, suggesting that the bloodwork was inconsistent with that of a female. And in 2023, another test revealed that the fighters “demonstrated the chromosomes we refer to in competition rules that make both boxers ineligible.”

Roberts further explained that Lin and Khelif were informed that they tested for XY chromosomes and were given the opportunity to appeal the findings to the Court of Arbitration for Sport. The IBA, he said, offered to pay the majority of the appeal; Yu-ting did not appeal, while Khelif appealed initially but then withdrew the appeal.

The IOC, though, is sticking by its decision to allow Lin and Khelif to compete in the women’s division. IOC spokesperson Mark Adams claimed that the IBA gender tests are “not credible” because the IBA is not credible and the reasoning for the tests is not credible, ESPN reported.

“There was no consideration of whether they were correct or not correct because they had no bearing for the eligibility of boxing here,” he said. 

Related: ‘This Boxer Is Male’: IBA Holds Presser, Says 2 Olympic Boxers Failed Gender Chromosome Test