The World Athletics Federation, has announced that it has approved the introduction of oral swabs and blood tests to determine if an athlete is biologically woman in order to “protect the female category in sport”. The president of World Athletics, Sebastian Coe who arrived third in the race to become the new president of the International Olympic Committee won by Kirsty Coventry of Zimbabwe, he has always stressed that transgender athletes could represent a threat to the elite competition and appealed to biology and science as fundamental pillars for future regulations.
Implementation of the new measures
Currently there is no fixed date for the introduction of the new measures but it is expected that they will be implemented to be effective to start from World Championships scheduled in Tokyo in Japan from 13 to 21 September. Coe stressed that “the new tests, which will involve a one -off oral buffer or a blood test, are not invasive and will be performed according to absolutely international medical standards”.
Call of transgender women
Since 2023, World Athletics has banned Transgender women From the female category, citing a scientific research that discovered that transgender women have maintained an advantage in force, resistance, power and lung capacity, even after taking drugs to suppress their testosterone. However, the new rules will also exclude athletes with a difference in sexual development (DSD) which are declared females at birth but suffer the physiological benefits of male puberty. World Athletics said he had made the decision after a new research has shown that the male advantage exists even before puberty. The performance gap Between men and women it is 3-5% in the racing competitions and higher in the races of launches and jumps.