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Transsexuality in sport: Athletics tightens the rules – Sport

The world athletics association World Athletics (WA) has tightened its restrictions on transgender athletes. Transgender women will no longer be allowed to compete in world ranking competitions in the women’s category starting March 31 if they have gone through male puberty, regardless of their current testosterone levels. This was stated by WA President Sebastian Coe after a council meeting of the association.

Before making the decision, the federation consulted extensively with various stakeholders, including 40 national federations, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and trans groups. “The majority of respondents stated that transgender athletes should not compete in the female category,” said Coe. “Many feel that there is insufficient evidence that trans women do not have an advantage over biological women.”

The World Athletics Federation plans to set up a working group led by a transgender person to follow scientific developments on the subject. “We’re not saying no forever,” said Coe. “As soon as more evidence is available we will review our position. But we believe the integrity of the female category in athletics comes first.”

World Athletics has also changed the eligibility requirements for athletes with gender development variants (DSD); the best-known DSD athlete is the two-time 800 m Olympic champion Caster Semenya from South Africa. According to the new regulations, in order to be able to compete in the female category, DSD athletes must reduce their testosterone level in their blood from the current five to below 2.5 nanomoles per liter and remain below this value for two years instead of just one year as previously. This now also applies to all disciplines and no longer to running distances of 400 m to one mile as before.

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