Lin Yu-ting dismisses Trump and Rowling’s false accusations with good humor

Taipei, Aug. 19 (CNA) Taiwanese Olympic gold medalist Lin Yu-ting (林郁婷) reacted with good-humored indifference Sunday to false accusations about her gender status by Trump and JK Rowling.

When asked by reporters to comment on the derogatory remarks made about her by former US President Donald Trump on Saturday, Lin described Taiwan as a “friendly” place where different opinions are accepted.

“This is a friendly society, we can tolerate different voices,” the 28-year-old athlete said at a promotional event in Taipei. “Each of us can look different, so of course we can have different voices.”

At a political rally in Pennsylvania on Saturday, Trump falsely suggested that Lin and Algerian boxer Imane Khelif were “men,” the Associated Press reported.

“They transitioned to women and were in boxing,” the former US president said, despite the fact that neither Lin nor Khelif are transgender and both identified as female from birth.

Lin, who recently won the women’s 57-kilogram boxing match in Paris, told reporters she had not read the news reports about Trump’s comments and therefore could not provide a specific response.

At a separate publicity event in New Taipei earlier on Sunday, Lin was also asked by reporters for her opinion on recent comments by British fiction writer JK Rowling.

On August 9, the author of the popular children’s novel Harry Potter suggested on X (formerly Twitter) that Lin and Khelif’s participation in the Paris Olympics was “madness,” implying that the female athletes were actually men.

“What will it take to end this madness? A female boxer with life-changing injuries? A female boxer who has died?” Rowling wrote in the post.

Lin downplayed the significance of Rowling’s misleading social media post by thanking the famed author for raising her profile on the world stage.

“Thanks to that ‘friend’ for introducing everyone to me,” Lin said ironically.

Rowling’s X account, which has more than 14 million followers, has been unusually quiet since August 8. According to Newsweek magazine, the British author is currently being sued by French prosecutors over her online posts.

Taiwan’s ‘Queen of Boxing’ appears to have so far remained undistracted by the controversy surrounding her and Khelif’s gender compatibility, which came after the discredited International Boxing Association (IBA) accused the pair of being men, despite providing no evidence to support their claim.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) called the IBA’s statements about Lin and Khelif “misleading information.”

The IOC suspended the IBA in 2019 and revoked its recognition in 2023 over corruption scandals and financial mismanagement at the Russian-led association. The IBA had “no involvement” in Tokyo 2020 and Paris 2024, according to an IOC statement issued in May.

Taiwan is fully behind their boxer and leaders from all political ranks have expressed their unconditional support.

Lin, who was born female and has always competed as a woman in tournaments over the years, was described as “the daughter of Taiwan” by New Taipei Major Hou Yu-ih (侯友宜), while President Lai Ching-te (賴清德) said he believed “everyone in Taiwan” was proud of the boxing champion for winning gold despite the “malicious attacks” against her.