Athletics Opens Door to Genetic Testing for Female Category Competition

The International Association of Athletics Federations (World Athletics) has decided to require all women wishing to participate in international competitions to undergo a genetic test to determine their chromosomes and whether they can compete in the female category. To avoid disadvantaging women, the new regulation, which will come into effect at the World Championships to be held in September in Tokyo, will equate transgender athletes with those who have a high level of testosterone from birth, such as South African athlete Caster Semenya and Algerian boxer Imane Khelif, whose victories up to the gold medal sparked much controversy at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.

Athletics once again becomes the first federation to impose sex tests before a competition, with the approval of a panel of experts, although a definitive rule for all sports is expected from the International Olympic Committee (IOC), which has just elected new president former Zimbabwean swimmer Kirsty Coventry, who will succeed Thomas Bach on June 24. Coventry is also in favour of not allowing transgender athletes to compete with women, and for now, while the appeal presented by Semenya to the Human Rights Tribunal is resolved, World Athletics has banned the South African from competing in female competitions.

The new World Athletics test will consist of a genetic saliva or blood test to determine the presence of the SRY gene, associated with the Y chromosome, which indicates male biological sex, and testosterone levels. "In the coming weeks, new regulations will be drafted, and a pre-authorization test provider will be agreed upon, as well as a process and a schedule," announced the president of the formerly known IAAF, Sebastian Coe, who was a candidate for the IOC presidency and finished third with only eight votes, behind Coventry and Spaniard Juan Antonio Samaranch.

"The test will allow athletes to compete in the female category. The process is very simple, very clear, and important, and they will only have to undergo it once in their entire sports career," assured Sebastian Coe. "It is important to do this because it not only establishes as a rule everything we talk about the integrity of women's sport, but we really guarantee it. This is a really important way to provide confidence," acknowledged the British leader, committed to "protecting the female category."