“I think we are all immensely proud of her. She fought beautifully and bravely! Other aspects of this fight are painful to comment on,” wrote President Andrzej Duda on Twitter following the match of Julia Szeremeta, who won an Olympic silver medal in boxing. The gold “medalist” Lin Yu-Ting has male chromosomes (XY), which led to her medal being revoked at last year’s World Championships.
Julia Szeremeta secured a silver medal in the 57 kg boxing category at the Paris Olympics. In Saturday’s final, she lost unanimously on points to the controversial Taiwanese boxer Yu Ting Lin 0-5 (27:30, 27:30, 27:30, 27:30, 27:30). The nearly 21-year-old Polish athlete, who will celebrate her birthday on August 24, struggled from the beginning against her visibly taller “opponent.” Lin effectively “used” her longer reach, keeping Szeremeta at a distance and “scoring” efficiently.
All these quotation marks are necessary because Lin Yu-Ting is a competitor who was disqualified during last year’s World Championships after it was determined that she is male. The International Boxing Association (IBA) found that the boxer failed gender tests—having XY chromosomes like men, instead of XX like women. In other words, Lin was not eligible to compete in women’s bouts. Despite being registered and accepted for the Olympics, the controversy remains.
After the Lin-Szeremeta match, President Andrzej Duda posted a comment.
“Julia Szeremeta has won an Olympic silver medal in boxing for Poland. The first in decades. I think we are all immensely proud of her. She fought beautifully and bravely! Other aspects of this fight are painful to comment on. Ms. Julia! Bravo! We thank you and congratulate you from the bottom of our hearts! You are a wonderful representative of Poland! Pride!” Duda wrote.