Taiwan deploys F-16 fighter jets to escort gold medal-winning boxer home after gender test furore

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Taiwan marked the grand return of its Olympic athletes, including gold medal winning boxer Lin Yu-Ting, by deploying F-16 fighter jets to escort their incoming flight into Taipei on Tuesday.

At least three F-16 jets were used to express Taiwan’s gratitude to the Olympic athletes who won seven medals for the island nation, including two golds and five bronzes, the Ministry of National Defence said.

The athletes were aboard a EVA Air charter flight on Tuesday morning, returning from Paris. Photos and videos shared by Taiwan’s defence ministry showed three F-16 jets taking off to join the athletes’ flight inbound for Taoyuan International Airport in Taipei.

The jets took off at 5am from an airbase, joined the EVA Air flight in the air and released fire flares in the sky as they flew alongside the plane to greet the incoming winners. The plane with the group of athletes touched down in Taipei at 7.10am.

Taiwanese president Lai Ching-te instructed the defence ministry to escort the athletes coming home and celebrate their achievements.

This is the second highest number of medals Taiwan has won at the Olympics, where the self-governed island competes under the name of Chinese Taipei.

Photos also showed Taiwan’s first ever Olympic gold medal winner in boxing, Lin Yu-ting, aboard the flight. Lin was seen watching a video of president Lai’s short message for the athletes.

Lin routed Julia Szeremeta of Poland 5:0 in their 57kg category in the final, capping her four-fight unbeaten run through Paris. Like Algerian boxer Imane Khaleif, Lin faced an avalanche of criticism and uninformed speculation about her sex during the Paris tournament to deliver the best performances of their boxing careers.

Their detractors questioned their eligibility to compete in women’s competitions by claiming they were men, and forcing both women to take unwanted starring roles in a debate over changing attitudes toward gender identity and safety regulation in sports.

Lin said she minimised this potentially enormous distraction by managing to avoid learning about it almost entirely. She also said she’ll speak with her team about whether to take legal action against some of the claims.

Both fighters were disqualified last year from the world championships organized by the International Boxing Association, a Russian-dominated governing body that has been banished from the Olympics since 2019.

The IBA said they failed an eligibility test for women’s competition, but it has struggled to defend its claims since they resurfaced at the Olympics, occasionally giving contradictory information or saying they were asked not to give details by the boxers’ national federations. That didn’t stop the criticism and speculation from proliferating online, apparently stoked by Russian disinformation networks.

“As an elite athlete, during the competition it’s important to shut myself off from social media,” she said.

“That’s extremely important. Some of the noises or 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. And I was invited by the IOC to participate in the Games. This is what I focused on.”

Lin has been circumspect in her public handling of the uproar, largely limiting herself to comments on her performances and praise of both her opponents and her many fans. Her quarterfinal and semifinal opponents in Paris outwardly showed moderate sportsmanship but also made it clear they felt Lin should have been ineligible to compete.

Lin has been strongly backed by her home country, including its former president, Tsai Ing-wen, who posted a message of support on social media.

Additional reporting by agencies