Transgender athletes condemn ban on inclusion in female events

“What’s happening is the most vulnerable are being excluded from sport more for political reasons and not based on science and research,” Worley told Reuters in an interview.

“This has effects not just at the international levels but consequently over communities across the globe including communities in the United States.”

The decision follows a similar move by World Aquatics, the global governing body for swimming, to exclude transgender athletes from women’s categories last year.

The council also voted to tighten restrictions on athletes with Differences in Sex Development (DSD), cutting the maximum amount of plasma testosterone for athletes in half, to 2.5 nanomoles per litre from five.

The tighter rules will impact DSD athletes such as two-times Olympic 800 metre champion Caster Semenya, Christine Mboma, the 2020 Olympic silver medallist in the 200m, and Francine Niyonsaba, who finished runner-up to Semenya in the 800 at the 2016 Olympics.

World Athletics president Sebastian Coe told a news conference that the decision to exclude transgender women was based “on the overarching need to protect the female category”.

WA President Sebastian Coe said the decision was made after consulting 40 member federations, coaches, athletes, transgender groups, United Nations experts and the IOC.

While some argue that going through male puberty gives transgender women physical advantages, supporters of transgender participation in sports say not enough research has been done into whether transgender women have any advantage.

Worley said the notion that transgender women athletes were dominating women’s sport was nonsense.

“I’m watching all the news groups put out images on Twitter with no images of transitioned athletes at the elite levels of the World Athletics because there aren’t any,” she said.

“So this is purely a political move by Seb Coe and World Athletics to deal with the right-wing issues, political relationships and obviously potential sponsors that are funding World Athletics today.”

‘FORCES OF HATE’
Ricki Coughlan, one of Australia’s first transgender athletes in professional running, said WA’s ruling would embolden the “forces of hate” against transgender people.

“There’s no nice way of putting this,” she told Reuters.

“The forces of hate that are out there that don’t want transgender people to exist in our society … will take this as a win and will then say ‘okay, let’s move onto the next thing’.”

WA also tightened eligibility requirements for athletes with Differences in Sex Development in women’s events, halving the upper threshold of testosterone levels.

DSD athletes have male testes but do not produce enough of the hormone Dihydrotestosterone (DHT) that is necessary for the formation of male external genitalia.

“For women with intersex traits, they will continue to be subjected to horrific sex testing practices and medically unnecessary surgery, gender-based violence and discrimination,” Hudson Taylor, founder and executive director of Athlete Ally, said in a statement.

Athlete Ally advocates for the inclusion of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) people in sport.

Australia’s national athletics federation said it would abide by the WA decision, but retain its own guidelines for including transgender athletes in community-level sport.

New Zealand’s federation said the subject of transgender athletes was “a very sensitive topic” and it needed time to digest and understand the new rules.

‘BIG STEP FOR FAIRNESS’

A number of elite women in track and field welcomed the WA decision, including British runner and Olympian Emily Diamond who tweeted “thank you for following the science”.

“A big step for fairness and protecting the female category hopefully this will be the rule across all levels now, not just elite ranking events,” wrote Diamond, who won a 400 metres relay bronze at the 2016 Rio Olympics.

Olympian and marathon runner Mara Yamauchi tweeted: “Good news! Odd to celebrate something which is common sense.”

Save Women’s Sport Australasia, a group campaigning against transgender athletes in female sport, applauded the decision.

“Well, it’s not a ban, it just actually moves to protect the female category to female competitors and it was an excellent decision,” spokeswoman Ro Edge told Reuters.

“So it’s really reassuring to hear president Seb Coe come out and say they’ve got to maintain fairness of female participation above all other considerations.”

He added that WA would form a task force to study the issue of trans inclusion that would be chaired by a transgender athlete.

Swimming’s world governing body World Aquatics voted last June to bar transgender women from elite competition if they had experienced any part of male puberty. A scientific panel had found that even after reducing their testosterone levels through medication, transgender women still had a significant advantage.

The vote passed with 71% of the national federations in favour.

WA regulations around DSD previously required women competing in events between 400 metres and a mile to maintain testosterone levels below five nanomoles per litre.

At the 2020 Olympics, South Africa’s Semenya and Burundi’s Niyonsaba were both barred from the 800m before turning their attention to the 5,000.

Semenya failed to qualify for the Games while Niyonsaba made the final before being disqualified for a lane violation.

Namibia’s Mboma, prevented from running the 400m, switched to the 200m, winning silver.

DSD athletes have male testes but do not produce enough of the hormone Dihydrotestosterone (DHT) that is necessary for the formation of male external genitalia.

Russia doping ban lifted but war ban keeps athletes out

World Athletics has voted to end its eight-year ban of the Russian Athletics Federation (RusAF) but the country’s athletes, and those of Belarus, will remain excluded from international competition because of WA’s ongoing separate ban over the invasion of Ukraine.

RusAF was banned in 2015 after the discovery of massive, state-sponsored doping and related cover-ups. A failure to meaningfully address the issue meant that the suspension remained in place.

However, Rune Andersen, head of WA’s Russia Task Force, reported that he was finally satisfied with the “new culture of good governance and zero tolerance for doping throughout the organisation” and WA’s Council subsequently voted on Thursday to lift the ban.

In recent years dozens of Russian athletes had been allowed to compete as neutrals if they could show a doping-free background but they too remain unable to compete after the Council voted to maintain the blanket ban on Russian and Belarusian athletes that came into force soon after the invasion of Ukraine a year ago.

This decision follows that last week by the European Athletics Council that Russian and Belarusian athletes should remain banned from its events until the war in Ukraine is ended.