World Athletics is preparing to institute cheek-swab tests for elite athletes who want to compete in female categories to make sure they are females and not transgender athletes.
The move comes after the organization banned transgender athletes from playing as females back in March of 2023.
At the time, Lord Sebastian Coe, head of World Athletics, said, “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.”
But since that time, World Athletics has said that there is “new evidence which clarifies there is already an athletically significant performance gap before the onset of puberty,” according to The Guardian.
“The childhood or pre‑pubertal performance gap in the sport of athletics specifically is 3 to 5% in running events, and higher in throwing and jumping events. New evidence establishes that athletic disadvantages associated with female body structure and physiology contribute to the performance gap,” the organization added.
Coe insisted that the latest changes are meant to “ensure that our guidelines keep up with the latest information available to maintain a fair and level playing field in the female categor.”. He said: “Preserving the integrity of competition in the female category is a fundamental principle of the sport of athletics, and we look forward to this collaborative consultation process with our key stakeholders in this area.”
World Athletics said the cheek swab will test for the SRY gene and testosterone levels.
World Athletics also maintains that lowering testosterone levels for transgender athletes does not do enough to erase the advantages that male athletes have. And claims that “new evidence has also clarified that testosterone suppression in 46XY DSD and 46XY transgender individuals can only ever partly mitigate the overall male advantage in the sport of athletics.”
Lord Coe is now seeking to be elected as the next head of the International Olympic Committee. He has pledged to spearhead an “uncompromising and clearcut policy” to protect women’s sports.
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