World Athletics approves swab test to determine female gender
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox
World Athletics chief Sebastian Coe said he is confident that the policy of swabbing female athletes would stand up to legal challenge.
PHOTO: AFP
Follow topic:
PARIS – Female athletes will soon have to undergo a one-time genetic test to compete in women’s events, World Athletics president Sebastian Coe said on March 25, after proposals to tighten eligibility rules were discussed at the body’s council meeting.
He said regulations would be drafted soon and the global governing body would find a test provider to conduct the non-invasive cheek swab or dried blood spot analysis tests.
Athletes would have to take the test just once in their careers to show that they do not have the SRY gene, which determines the male sex in humans and most other mammals.
World Athletics hopes to have the testing in place for its outdoor world championships in Tokyo in September.
Like other sports, athletics has spent years debating eligibility criteria to compete in women’s events, amid questions over biological advantages for transgender athletes and those with differences of sex development (DSD).
World Athletics now bans transgender women who have gone through male puberty from competing in women’s events, and requires female DSD athletes whose bodies produce high testosterone levels to lower them in order to be eligible.
In February, a working group found that those rules were not tight enough, concluding that athletes who are born male can have an edge over those born female, even if they do not go through male puberty.
A pre-clearance test for the SRY gene was one of several recommendations the group made for revised rules.
“The pre-clearance testing will be for athletes to be able to compete in the female category,” Coe said. “The process is very straightforward, frankly very clear, and it’s an important one. We will look for a testing provider, we will work on the timelines and the tests will only need to be done once in the career life of an athlete.”
He added that the test guarantees “the integrity of female women’s sport”.
The decision was taken after a wide consultation on the proposal, said Coe, who announced the policy a week after finishing third in the race to be the new president of the International Olympic Committee, won by Zimbabwe’s former Olympic swimming champion Kirsty Coventry.
“Overwhelmingly, the view has come back that this is absolutely the way to go,” he said, adding that the swab test was not considered to be overly intrusive.
He was confident that the policy could stand up to legal challenge, adding: “We’ve been to the Court of Arbitration on our DSD regulations.
“They have been upheld and they have again been upheld after appeal. So we will doggedly protect the female category and we’ll do whatever is necessary to do it.”
Sharron Davies, who won a 400m medley silver in swimming at the 1980 Olympics, was among those who welcomed the testing.
The 62-year-old Briton wrote on X: “I hope the IOC (International Olympic Committee) and all other sports where we have a separate male and female category do exactly the same!” REUTERS
