Olympics outcry as Svetlana Staneva makes 'chromosome gesture' after losing to Lin Yu-ting after test fail

Svetlana Staneva's Olympic aspirations were dashed following her defeat by Lin Yu-ting, who is the second female pugilist this season to be ruled out on ambiguous gender eligibility criteria , which Staneva highlighted with a hand gesture symbolising chromosomes .

Lin Yu-ting holds the position of top contender for Olympic gold, after being barred from the 2023 Women's World Boxing Championships due to failing the gender eligibility test in question .

In the bout, Yu-ting outclassed Staneva, leaving the Bulgarian visibly disheartened as she made a chromosome-referencing 'X' shape with her fingers replicating the movement twice as if to underline her double X chromosomes to the Paris crowd, who responded with an echo of boos.

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Imane Khelif, another boxer caught in the gender test controversy after being disqualified from the previous world championships , joins Yu-ting as probable medallists at the Olympics, with their participation drawing extensive critique.

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Post-match, Staneva retained her silence, but her coach voiced a stark opinion regarding the contentious Olympic entries.

"I am not a medical person so I shouldn't say if Lin should or should not compete," Borislav Georgiev confided to the BBC. "But when the test shows that he or she has the Y chromosome, they should not be here."

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IBA president Umar Kremlev has previously stated that the details of the tests that Khelif and Yu-ting underwent are confidential while acknowledging that these boxers will have a competitive edge over other female athletes. He later revealed that the tests "proved they had XY chromosomes and were thus excluded".

Caitlin Jenner, a former men's gold medallist, has expressed her disapproval of their inclusion.

She commented: "This issue has hurt the Olympic Games so much... Everyone's talking about it. Shame on the IOC for not protecting the integrity of women's sports, and shame on the IOC for not protecting the safety of women's sports."