Read more  It is a decision that rekindles debates on the inclusion of transgender people in high-level sport. The international athletics federation (World Athletics) took a major turn in its policy towards transgender athletes on Thursday, February 24. It excluded them from the women's category, which it intends to "protect", announced its president Sebastian Coe. "For many, the evidence that trans women do not maintain an advantage over biological women is insufficient," he continued. The decision will come into force on March 31.
Who is affected? "Transgender athletes, both male and female, who have experienced male puberty," are banned from "international women's competitions," World Athletics president Sebastian Coe said in a statement. Until now, transgender athletes could compete in women's events by regulating their testosterone levels for at least 12 months before a competition. But "it became clear that there was little support within sport for this option," he added.
Currently, however, there are no transgender athletes competing internationally in athletics.
Why such a decision? The decision was taken after two months of consultation with "member federations, coaches, the Athletes' Commission, the IOC as well as transgender and human rights associations," according to the statement.
"For many, the evidence that trans women do not maintain an advantage over biological women is insufficient. They want more evidence (…) before considering the option of inclusion in the women's category," Sebastian Coe detailed. In an opinion issued on November 16, 2021, the International Olympic Committee considered that "there is no scientific consensus on how testosterone affects performance in all sports."
"We are not saying 'no' forever," Sebastian Coe qualified. A specific working group must be created for a year to study future scientific developments and "consider later a possible inclusion." "We need to know more now," he concluded on this point.
What about intersex people? The International Athletics Federation has also tightened restrictions on intersex people, such as two-time Olympic 800m champion Caster Semenya. These athletes must now maintain their testosterone levels below 2,5 nmol/L for 24 months, instead of 5 nmol/L for 6 months to compete in the women's category. Importantly, the rule now applies to all disciplines and not just races from 400m to the mile (1.610m), as was the case since 2018.
This rule had been denounced by the emblematic South African Caster Semenya, also a triple 800m world champion, who refuses to undergo hormonal treatment or an operation, after losing the appeals filed in particular before the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).
Athlete Caster Semenya, at the 2022 World Athletics Championships in the United States. Her hyperandrogenism has raised many questions. © AFP – MUSTAFA YALCIN / ANADOLU AGENCY / ANADOLU AGENCY
World Athletics is offering the thirteen intersex athletes currently competing a "temporary" settlement by lowering their testosterone levels for six months instead of 6. They are thus excluded from the Budapest World Championships (August 24-19, 27) but could participate in the Paris Olympics, Coe said.
However, all of them have refused to take hormone treatment in recent years, preferring to follow tests that were authorized until now.
How have LGBTQI+ advocacy groups responded? “We are beyond devastated to see World Athletics succumb to political pressure at the expense of core principles of inclusion, equity and non-discrimination for transgender athletes and athletes with intersex variations,” Hudson Taylor, founder and executive director of LGBTQI+ advocacy group Athlete Ally, said in a statement.
For its part, the British association for LGBTQI+ people Stonewall deplored a "disappointing" decision. "It is so disappointing to see World Athletics announce this unilateral ban on trans women in athletics events. Their own statement acknowledges that there are no trans women competing at international level and that there is therefore no evidence to justify such a ban."
To view this Twitter content, you must accept Social Media cookies. These cookies allow you to share or react directly on the social networks to which you are connected or to integrate content initially posted on these social networks. They also allow social networks to use your visits to our sites and applications for personalization and advertising targeting purposes. What about other sports? The situation is different. Faced with the impossibility of deciding for all sports, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) asked the various international federations in November 2021 to establish their own criteria to allow transgender and intersex people to compete at a high level.
Just before that, he had allowed Laurel Hubbard, a weightlifting champion, to compete in the Tokyo Olympics, making her the first openly transgender woman to compete in an Olympics. The athlete met the qualification criteria at the time: her testosterone level had to be kept below 10 nmol per liter for at least 12 months. But her participation had caused controversy, leading the IOC to withdraw from the issue.
In swimming, the international federation (FINA) announced in June 2022 that it wanted to create an open category for transgender athletes. This effectively means excluding from the women's categories swimmers who "became women before puberty". Athlete Lia Thomas is at the heart of the debate. Assigned male at birth, she began her transition in 2019 and has since become a university champion in the United States.
In football, FIFA announced last June that it was working on the issue, without providing further details. The rules differ depending on the country: in Australia, transgender athlete Hannah Mouncey was allowed to take part in a semi-professional women's championship in 2018, a year after her request was initially refused.
In cycling, the International Cycling Union (UCI) ruled in March that transgender athlete Emily Bridges was not yet allowed to compete in British national championships. 

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