World Athletics Mandates Gene Tests For Female Category Eligibility

Athletes will beryllium eligible to compete successful nan female class for world-ranking competitions specified arsenic nan world championships only if they clear a one-time cistron test.

The trial for nan SRY gene, which needs to beryllium taken only erstwhile and helps successful determining biologic sex, tin beryllium conducted via a feature swab aliases humor test. World Athletics’ testing protocol will beryllium overseen by personnel federations and nan caller regulations travel into effect connected 1 September, successful clip for that month’s world championships successful Tokyo.

“It is really important successful a athletics that is permanently trying to pull much women that they participate a athletics believing location is nary biologic solid ceiling,” nan World Athletics president, Sebastian Coe, said. “The trial to corroborate biologic activity is simply a very important measurement successful ensuring this is nan case. We are saying, astatine elite level, for you to compete successful nan female category, you person to beryllium biologically female.

“It was ever very clear to maine and nan World Athletics Council that gender cannot trump biology. We peculiarly want to convey our personnel federations for their support and committedness successful nan implementation of these caller regulations.”

Athletics has spent years debating eligibility criteria to compete successful women’s events, amid questions complete biologic advantages for transgender athletes and those pinch differences of activity improvement (DSD). World Athletics presently bans transgender women who person gone done antheral puberty from competing successful women’s events, while it requires female DSD athletes whose bodies nutrient precocious testosterone levels to little them successful bid to beryllium eligible.

This year, a moving group recovered that those rules were not tight enough, pinch a pre-clearance trial for nan SRY cistron being one of respective recommendations nan group made for revised rules. The SRY cistron reveals nan beingness of nan Y chromosome, which is an parameter of biologic sex. The trial was besides approved by World Boxing successful May erstwhile they introduced mandatory activity testing for each boxers.

This month, nan European Court upheld a 2023 ruling that double 800m Olympic champion Caster Semenya’s entreaty to a Swiss Federal Tribunal against regulations that barred her from competing had not been decently heard. Semenya was appealing against World Athletics regulations that female athletes pinch DSDs medically trim their testosterone levels.