UFC veteran reacts to Imane Khelif and Lin Yu Ting's potential 2024 Paris Olympic gold bid
Former UFC fighter Jake Shields contributed to the controversial women's boxing situation featuring Imane Khelif and Lin Yu Ting.
Earlier this week, Algeria's Khelif defeated Italy's Angela Carini by TKO in the women's welterweight boxing division of the 2024 Paris Olympics. The 25-year-old's win was quickly overshadowed by backlash when the world learned more about her background.
In 2023, Khelif was disqualified from the women's boxing world championships due to elevated testosterone levels, which led to her reportedly failing gender eligibility test. However, the test results haven't been published and there have been no evidences to support the claims.
Nonetheless, the Algerian boxer was born with DSD (Differences of Sexual Development) and has XY chromosomes in her DNA.
People later discovered that Lin Yu Ting of Taiwan, competing in the women's featherweight boxing division, was also born with DSD. Both fighters will earn a medal in the 2024 Summer Olympics after making the semifinals.
A popular Twitter account called "TheQuartering" questionably reported on the situation by posting the following message on X:
"After defeating all the women. 2 biological men will compete for Olympic Gold in women's boxing."
Former UFC fighter Jake Shields responded to the post by saying:
"It's a man's world"
Imane Khelif and Lin Yu Ting's respective runs in the 2024 Paris Olympics
As previously mentioned, Imane Khelif's 2024 Olympics run started with a TKO win against Angela Carini in the round of 16. Two days later, Khelif continued her road to gold by defeating Hungary's Luca Anna Hamori by unanimous decision in the quarterfinals.
On Tuesday, Aug. 6, Khelif looks to book her spot in the women's welterweight gold medal boxing match. To do so, the Algerian representative must take out Thailand's Janjaem Suwannapheng.
Meanwhile, Lin Yu Ting started with a unanimous decision win against Uzbekistan's Sitoa Turdibekova in the women's featherweight round of 16. The Taiwanese boxer secured a similar result when she took out Bulgaria's Svetlana Staneva in the quarterfinals.
On Wednesday, Aug. 7, the 28-year-old will face Turkey's Esra Yildiz Kahraman in the semifinals to potentially book a spot in the championship boxing match.