World Athletics has made the call to ban transgender women from competing in female track and field events irrespective of their levels of testosterone.
The global track and field’s governing body announced the decision on Friday (March 24) following a council meeting, according to Fox Sports.
World Athletics president Sebastian Coe confirmed the news, saying; “The Council has agreed to exclude male or female transgender athletes who have been through male puberty from female world ranking competitions from March the 31st this year.”
Multiple stakeholders including the International Olympic Committee and the national federations had been consulted about the issue.
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Coe says that ‘the majority’ of stakeholders believed transgender athletes should be prohibited from ‘competing in the female category’.
He said: “Many believe there is insufficient evidence that trans women do not retain advantage over biological women and want more evidence that any physical advantages have been ameliorated before they are willing to consider an option for inclusion into the female category.”
Adding: “The judgement we took … was, I believe, in the best interests of our sport.”
The statement noted that the federation was ‘not saying no forever’ but wanted a working group implemented that would be headed up by a transgender person to monitor further scientific developments.
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Under the previous guidelines, World Athletics had required women to reduce the amount of testosterone to a maxim of 5nmol/L for at least 12 months.
However, they’ve now adopted the same policy introduced by the swimming body FINA earlier this year.
Coe maintained that the decision was made to ‘protect the female category’ but admitted that the decision was a ‘difficult one’.
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He said: “Decisions are always difficult when they involve conflicting needs and rights between different groups, but we continue to take the view that we must maintain fairness for female athletes above all other considerations.
"We will be guided in this by the science around physical performance and male advantage which will inevitably develop over the coming years.
“As more evidence becomes available, we will review our position, but we believe the integrity of the female category in athletics is paramount."
The announcement also noted that no transgender athletes currently compete at an international level.
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LGBTQ+ rights organisation Stonewall disapproved of the ruling.
They tweeted: “It is so disappointing to see World Athletics announce a unilateral ban on trans women in track and field events.
“Their own statement recognises that there are no trans women competing at an international level and that they have no specific evidence to justify the ban.”
Meanwhile, UK-based body Fair Play For Women whose aim is to ‘defend the sex-based rights of women and girls’, were in favour of the decision.
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They tweeted: “This is a reversal of their unfair testosterone suppression policy and makes good on Coe’s commitment to protect female sport.”
Featured Image Credit: sportpoint / Alamy. Hugh Mitton / Alamy.