Allowing the gender row boxers to compete is dangerously wrong, but the ignorant charlatans who exploit them for their cause are even worse

Amidst all the joy and delight of the Olympic Games in Paris, amidst the beauty and splendor, a tragedy is also being played out before our eyes. On Sunday morning, in the Parc des Expositions, not far from Charles de Gaulle airport, the second act was performed.

In the middle of a bare hall in an exhibition building stood a boxing ring, and as the introduction began, a man in a bowler hat and an enormous false moustache led the collective singing of Champs Elysees, a song for the carefree.

Then they cranked up the playlist and pulled off their clever trick of making it look like athletes from the 1924 Paris Olympics, shown on the big screen in sepia or black and white, were singing modern hits. Highway to Hell is a favorite.

After performing “I Will Survive,” Lin Yu-ting, a 28-year-old featherweight from Taiwan, was escorted into the arena by three coaches and eagerly climbed through the ropes. For some, that square canvas is a place to fight. For Lin, it’s a place to escape.

It’s hard to say where to begin with the furor caused by Lin and Algerian welterweight Imane Khelif at these Olympics, other than to say that the sanctity of women’s sport must be protected as a priority.

Tests approved by the International Boxing Association and conducted at the 2022 Women’s World Boxing Championships in Istanbul and New Delhi last year showed that Lin and Khelif had XY chromosomes and did not meet the eligibility requirements for women’s competition.

It feels dangerously wrong that they are here competing in a sport where unfair advantages in physical strength can cause serious injury or death. It is not their fault, but it does suggest sheer incompetence and alarming Luddism on the part of the International Olympic Committee and its president Thomas Bach.

There is a caveat here. The tests appear to have been done by a reputable lab in New Delhi, but this case is so full of charlatans and liars and bragging and ignorance and prejudice and fear and anger that you need wings to stay above it.

Do you trust these people? You only need to glance at the chaos and insults hurled at the hastily organized IBA press conference in Paris on Monday afternoon to see that no one is innocent in this affair. Except perhaps Lin and Khelif.

“The tests show that they were men,” said Russian IBA President Umar Kremlev. “We don’t verify what they have between their legs. We don’t know if they were born that way, or if there were changes.” That’s how the IBA talks about people.

Lin and Khelif have become an industry of their own, a touchstone for both legitimate concerns and unfounded fears. They are assets, collateral damage in a political war between the IOC and the IBA and the monstrous egos that are only too happy to use them as pawns.

This is the world Lin, 28, entered Sunday morning at the North Paris Arena. Lin is fighting in a second Olympics in the women’s 57kg weight class, a boxer who was raised as a girl and grew up as a woman, taking up boxing to protect her mother from domestic abuse.

Once Lin was in the ring, he ran to the center and theatrically bowed to all four corners of the arena and then again to the referee, who looked like a rather sinister version of Minnesota Fats.

Lin wore red. Her opponent, Svetlana Staneva, wore blue, and both knew that whoever won their quarterfinal match would be guaranteed a medal. The boisterous Taiwanese contingent in the crowd cheered Lin and continued to support them until the end of the three-round match.

It was not a fight for the purists. Lin threw a lot of hay but didn’t hit many. However, it was clear from the start that Lin was the better fighter and a hard jab put Staneva back on her heels in the first round.

The Bulgarian boxer complained several times about Lin’s rough tactics and use of elbows and Lin was warned several times by the referee. Staneva gave as good as she got. In the third round she pushed Lin to the ground. It looked more like a judo throw than a punch.

Lin was knocked down in the final round, but it was more of a tackle than a punch and it didn’t count. Every time Lin threw a punch, which was happening more and more often, the three coaches standing by her corner applauded loudly and shook their fists in the air.

When the match ended, the music started again. “Baby, I’m gonna have the best night of my life,” it said, “and wherever it takes me, I’m gonna do it.” Lin tried to touch Staneva’s gloves, but she hesitated to do the same.

Before the results were officially announced, Staneva stood in the ring and made two X-signs with her fingers to indicate that she was, presumably, all woman. And Lin was not. The judges unanimously awarded the fight to Lin.

Lin stopped in the mixed zone after the fight to talk to Taiwanese journalists, who were careful not to ask any difficult questions. He was asked why he had not spoken to Lin about the controversy that was raging.

“We want her to win gold,” he said, “so we don’t want to put any more pressure on her than she already feels.”

As Lin walked by, Staneva’s coach spoke to Bulgarian reporters, holding a white piece of paper. He had written some words on it. ‘I want to play only with women; I am XX,’ it said.

The coach said he wrote the letter. “This is perhaps the message of every female boxer in this tournament,” he said.

On Wednesday night, Lin will fight for a spot in the final. On Tuesday night, Khelif will fight for a spot in the women’s 66kg final. On Monday, the IBA held its press conference in a room called the Hall of Mirrors.

The Paris Olympic Games locations are beautiful

One of the joys of the Paris Olympics is the stunning beauty of some of the locations. I watched the dressage team final in Versailles on Saturday and the backdrop, with the chateau in the distance, was breathtaking.

Here are my top five most beautiful sporting venues I’ve been to. 1. Newlands Cricket Ground, Cape Town 2. Sailing events on Sydney Harbour during the 2000 Olympic Games 3. Rowing at Lagoa during the 2016 Rio Olympics 4. Finish line of the Mixed Triathlon on Pont Alexandre III during the 2024 Paris Olympics 5. Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari in Imola.

Getting rid of Gallagher is madness

It is a further sign of the dysfunction that has gripped Chelsea since Todd Boehly and Behdad Eghbali took over the club that one of their most important players has been sent packing.

Amid the chaos of last season, Conor Gallagher was one of the few players at Stamford Bridge who emerged with any credit. He was a team player, selfless and hard-working, the glue that held the side together and played a key role in their late-season turnaround.

So what do Chelsea do? They keep Enzo Fernandez, who has just led his Argentine team-mates in racist chants and has been a huge disappointment since arriving from Benfica for £105m, and they sell Gallagher to Atletico Madrid. How reassuring to see that Eghbali and Boehly haven’t lost their touch.