Female Olympic boxer makes 'X' symbol in apparent protest after semifinal loss to opponent embroiled in gender controversy

Female Olympic boxer Esra Yildiz Kahraman of Turkey made an "X" symbol with her fingers in an apparent protest after her semifinal loss Wednesday to Lin Yu-ting of Taiwan, who's embroiled in a gender controversy.

Esra Yildiz Kahraman of Turkey makes "X" symbol after her loss in women's 57kg semifinal bout to Chinese Taipei's Lin Yu Ting during Paris Olympic Games, Aug. 7, 2024.Photo by Fabio Bozzani/Anadolu via Getty Images

The International Boxing Association disqualified Lin — as well as fellow Paris Olympic boxer Imane Khelif of Algeria — from the March 2023 world championships over failure to meet gender eligibility requirements.

Lin on Saturday will fight Poland’s Julia Szeremeta for the Olympic gold medal in the women’s 57 kg category.

According to Reuters, IBA President Umar Kremlev told Russian outlet TASS at the time that the boxers — who were fighting in the women's division — had "XY chromosomes." Males have XY chromosomes; females have XX chromosomes. But despite the controversy, the International Olympic Committee allowed both Lin and Khelif to compete against female boxers in Paris.

It appears Kahraman's "X" gesture was related to the chromosome controversy. Svetlana Kamenova Staneva of Bulgaria made the same "X" symbol after her Sunday quarterfinal loss to Lin.

Lin has been using technique and reach rather than power to win, the Associated Press said, adding that's how Lin beat Kahraman, who tried a more physical approach while Lin "patiently picked her apart mostly from distance for three rounds."

Chinese Taipei's Lin Yu Ting (red) wins Women's 57kg semifinal bout against against Turkey's Esra Yildiz Kahraman (blue) at the Paris Olympic Games, Aug. 7, 2024. Photo by Fabio Bozzani/Anadolu via Getty Images

Lin on Saturday will fight Poland’s Julia Szeremeta for the Olympic gold medal in the women’s 57 kg category. Khelif on Friday will fight China's Yang Liu for the Olympic gold medal in the women's 66 kg category.

Khelif also has been making headlines for a gender controversy, particularly after a bout last week against Italy's Angela Carini, who threw in the towel after just 46 seconds against Khelif and later said "one punch hurt too much, and so I said enough."

Carini later apologized to Khelif and said she respects the IOC's decision to let the Algerian fight against women.

Anything else?

IOC president Thomas Bach in a recent press conference defended Khelif and Lin: "We have two boxers who are born as a woman, who have been raised as a woman, who have a passport as a woman, and who have competed for many years as women. And this is the clear definition of a woman. There was never any doubt about them being a woman."

Besides calling the criticism of Khelif and Lin "hate speech," Bach alleged that the IBA — which the IOC dropped prior to the 2024 Paris Games — was waging a "defamation campaign against France, against the games, against the IOC."

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