World Athletics President Sebastian Coe has praised the decision of swimming to ban transgender women from elite women’s competition as “the best interest of their sport” and hinted that athletics will soon could follow the same.
Lord Coe was in Budapest on Sunday when the governing body of swimming, Fina, voted to ban female events for trans athletes who have experienced some part of male puberty. In 24 hours, he announced that the World Athletics Council will also review its policies on transgender athletes and DSD (differences in sexual development) later this year.
“My responsibility is to protect the integrity of women’s sport. We take it very seriously, and if it means we have to make adjustments to the protocols in the future, we will, “Coe said.” And I’ve always made it clear: a judgment on equity or inclusion, I will always fall on the side of equity. “
According to World Athletics rules, transgender women can compete in the female category as long as they suppress their testosterone below 5 nmol / L for 12 months. Fina also followed this rule until Sunday, when she changed her rules after scientific evidence showed that trans women retain an advantage even after lowering testosterone.
When asked what he thought of Fina’s new policy, Coe was clear. “We see an international federation asserting its primacy in establishing rules, regulations and policies that are in the best interest of its sport,” he said. “This is how it should be. We have always believed, and we constantly repeat, that biology outweighs gender and we will continue to review our regulations accordingly.”
As things stand, there are no elite athletics trans athletes, though CeCé Telfer became the first openly transgender person to win an 2019 NCAA title in the women’s 400m hurdles.
Any tightening of the rules will also affect DSD athletes such as the 800-meter Olympic gold medal and triple of the Caster Semenya World Championship, the Tokyo 2020 200-meter silver medal Christine Mboma and Francine Niyonsaba, who won the final of the 5,000-meter women’s Diamond League last. course.
DSD athletes, who have male testicles but do not produce enough of the hormone dihydrotestosterone (DHT), which is essential for the formation of the male external genitalia, have proven to be a highly controversial area for athletics.
In 2019, World Athletics went to the sports arbitration court to stop DSD athletes running internationally in events between 400 m and one mile unless they are taking medication to lower their testosterone levels. However, they may be present at other events. Case ruled that 46 XY DSD athletes “enjoyed a significant sporting advantage … more than 46 XX athletes without this DSD” due to biology.
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There has been a lot of sympathy for athletes like Semenya, who have been raised as women since they were very young and want to compete as such, and any change in World Athletics DSD policy would rekindle controversy.
When asked if the governing body would consider adopting a policy similar to Fina’s, Coe said: “We have always said that our regulations in this area are a living document, specific to 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 and transgender regulations with our board later this year.”