Lin Yu Ting ‘shut myself off’ from outside noise amid gender eligibility row

Newly-crowned Olympic champion Lin Yu Ting, one of the boxers at the centre of a gender eligibility row, insisted she has not paid too much attention to outside noise throughout the Paris Games.

Lin and Algerian fighter Imane Khelif have been at the heart of controversy after they were both cleared to compete in this year’s Games by the International Olympic Committee (IOC), despite being disqualified by the International Boxing Association (IBA) last year for allegedly failing gender eligibility tests.

The IBA was expelled last year over financial and corruption concerns by the IOC, which is overseeing boxing at Paris 2024.

In a chaotic press conference in Paris last week, the IBA failed to provide any concrete evidence of the testing process or results.

Lin won Olympic gold on Saturday night after beating Poland’s Julia Szeremeta in the women’s 57kg final by unanimous decision at Roland Garros and revealed afterwards that she shut herself away from outside noise during the competition.

The Chinese Taipei boxer told a press conference: “As a elite athlete during the competition it’s important to shut myself off from social media and to focus.

“Some of the noises and some of the news articles, of course I heard some of the information through my coach but I didn’t pay too much mind to it.

“I was invited by the IOC to compete in the Games, I focused on the Games. As for other issues I relied on my coach to answer the questions.”

A cagey opening in Saturday night’s final saw Szeremeta throw some good jabs, but Lin eased into the contest with some quickfire punches and the judges awarded her the first round.

Lin started the second round firing a great hook into the side of her opponent’s head before both fighters launched a