
By Zuko Komisa
World Athletics has banned transgender women from international competitions
World Athletics announced on Thursday that it had banned transgender athletes from participating in elite female events and had tightened testosterone requirements for other athletes.
President of World Athletics Sebastian Coe stated that the choice to bar transgender women who had experienced male puberty was made on various factors.
Lord Coe, the president of World Athletics, has since confirmed the “difficult” choice to alter the organization’s rules, which will take effect on March 31.
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According to a statement released by World Athletics, they believe they must maintain fairness for female athletes above all other considerations.
“The Council has agreed to exclude male to female transgender athletes who have been through male puberty from female world ranking competitions from 31 March this year.”
“We cannot in all conscience leave our transgender regulations as they were at 5nmol/mol for at least one year when we were unsure about the impact of doing so across all our disciplines.”
“The decision that the council made is a primarily principled based decision about the over-arching need to protect the female category. This is what our sport is here to do. And I think the council has done that today.”
“We continue to take the view that we must maintain fairness for female athletes above all other considerations. 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.” read the statement.
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