Lord Coe was in Budapest on Sunday as the governing body of swimming, Fina, voted to ban trans women athletes who have experienced any part of male adolescence. Within 24 hours, it announced that the World Sports Council would also review its policies on trans and DSD (gender differences) athletes at the end of the year. “My responsibility is to protect the integrity of women’s sports. “We take it very seriously and, if that means we need to make adjustments to the protocols in the future, we will do it,” Coe said. “And I always made it clear: if we are ever pressed into a corner where we judge for justice or inclusion, I will always fall on the side of justice.” According to the rules of World Athletics, transgender women can compete in the women’s category provided they suppress their testosterone below 5 nmol / L for 12 months. This rule was also followed by Fina until Sunday, when it changed its rules, as scientific evidence showed that trans women retain an advantage even after lowering testosterone. When asked what he did for Fina’s new policy, Coe was clear. “We see an international federation claiming its primacy in setting rules, regulations and policies that are in the best interest of its sport,” he said. “It simply came to our notice then. “We have always believed, and kept repeating, that biology is superior to gender and we will continue to revise our regulations accordingly.” As it turns out, there are no trans elite track and field athletes, although CeCé Telfer became the first open trans man to win an NCAA title in 2019 in the women’s 400m hurdles. Any tightening of the rules will also affect DSD athletes such as the doubles and gold medalist of the triple world 800m Caster Semenya, the silver medalist of the 200m Tokyo 2020 Christine Mboma and Francine Niyonsaba, who won women’s 5,000m final in the Diamond League final. year. Athletes with DSD – who have male testicles but do not produce enough of the hormone Dihydrotestosterone (DHT), which is crucial for the formation of men’s external genitalia – have proven to be a highly controversial area for sports. In 2019, World Athletics appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport to stop DSD athletes from running internationally in races between 400 meters and a mile unless they were taking medication to lower their testosterone levels. They can, however, run in other events. Cas ruled that 46 XY DSD athletes “enjoy a significant athletic advantage τι over 46 XX athletes without such a DSD” due to biology. Quick guide
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Thank you for your response. There has been a great deal of sympathy for athletes like Semenya, who have grown up as young women and want to compete as one, and any change in World Athletics DSD policy will rekindle the controversy. Asked if the governing body would consider a similar policy to Fina, Coe said: “We have always said that our regulations in this area are a living document, especially for our sport and we will follow science. “We continue to study, research and contribute to the growing body of evidence that testosterone is a key determinant of performance, and we have scheduled a discussion of our DSD regulations and trans with our board at the end of the year.”
