© Nicole GarmstonHannah Mouncey
Transgender women who have experienced male puberty will not be permitted to compete in female world ranking competitions, the World Athletics
announced Thursday.
The international council opted to ban the swath of prospective athletes instead of continuing to follow its previous rules that placed parameters on the testosterone levels of transgender female athletes.
Previously, transgender women were required to reduce their amount of blood testosterone to a maximum of 2.5 nanomoles for a period of 24 months to qualify for competition. After consulting with various stakeholders — including transgender representatives — World Athletics found there was "little support" for the regulations.
© Getty Images for European AthleticsSebastian Coe, World Athletics President, said the decision was made in order to maintain fairness for women athletes.
World Athletics President Sebastian Coe
told BBC that the decision was "guided by the overarching principle which is to protect the female category."
He noted that there are currently no transgender female athletes competing internationally in the sport who would be affected by the new rules, which are set to take effect March 31.
World Athletics ruled transgender female athletes who experienced male puberty cannot compete in international competition. Getty Images
© Rich von Biberstein/Icon Sportswire via Getty ImagesLia Thomas (centre top) demonstrates why transgender males should not be permitted to compete in women's sports
The organization — which oversees sporting events involving competitive running, jumping, throwing and walking — argued the lack of representation made it difficult to evaluate the fairness of female competition in athletics, so the group ultimately "decided to prioritise fairness and the integrity of the female competition before inclusion."
The exclusionary rules could change in the next year, Coe said — World Athletics will set up a working group to further research the transgender eligibility guidelines over the next 12 months.
"We're not saying no forever," he told BBC.
In the same announcement, World Athletics announced it would be strengthening its regulations for Differences in Sex Development (DSD), or intersex, athletes.
As of March 31, DSD athletes will be placed under the same testosterone-limiting regulations transgender female athletes previously adhered to.
The new rules will replace the only existing regulation for DSD athletes, which prevented them from participating in events ranging from 400m to a mile.
DSD athletes already competing will be yanked from competition until they can reduce their testosterone levels to appropriate ranges for six consecutive months, the organization 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," Coe said in a statement.
"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."
Reader Comments
Fair is fair.
Obviously I’m not being sexist or anything because Sandwich and cake making competitions should be fair game.
It's interesting, actually, because top competitor females would like to be allowed to compete in men's leagues. There's a female placekicker for American Football, for example, who may have had a chance to play in the NFL in recent years, though it may be partly a publicity stunt. I think some people recount or believe Babe Didrikson Zaharias could've played NBA/ABA basketball, because she was so talented and needed more competition. That might've been someone else, though.
Good Optics Right? I think it illustrates the point -- the structure determinative years differentiate things markedly... but this ruling does open the other-side-of-the-question regarding whether female-puberty experience FTM transgenders can then look to compete in men's leagues: I think they'd be dependent on exogenous hormones, the main banned substances in most all competitive sports, so that seems like an automatic disqualifier. Or if they could compete without them they'd be real athletic freaks, no insult implied.
..."guided by the overarching principle which is to protect the female category." ..."decided to prioritise fairness and the integrity of the female competition before inclusion." I'd second those decisions.
The way the world has been going, it probably will be replaced by AI and very soon, and humanity is 100% responsible for it. The great reset is all about resetting stupid humanity to ground zero. Maybe next time they will choose to do better; or maybe not. I don't care.
I don't know what sort of person might do such things but such a person certainly is not a female-spirited individual