Transgender Women Banned From Elite Track and Field Competitions by World Athletics
The World Athletics Council announced Thursday that it will exclude transgender women athletes from female World Rankings competition beginning March 31 if they have "been through male puberty."
World Athletics President Sebastian Coe released a statement regarding the decision.
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"Decisions are always difficult when they involve conflicting needs and rights between different groups, but 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."
World Athletics is the international governing body for athletics, including sports such as track and field, cross-country and ultra running.
The group stated it met with key stakeholders in January and February (e.g. member federations and the International Olympic Committee) in addition to transgender and human rights groups.
An option was on the table for transgender athletes to compete if they maintained testosterone levels below 2.5 nanomoles per liter for 24 months, thereby making them eligible for international female competition. However, World Athletics stated there was "little support" for that choice.
World Athletics pointed to the fact that there aren't any transgender athletes taking part in international athletics competition, which therefore meant that there was "no athletics-specific evidence of the impact these athletes would have on the fairness of female competition in athletics."
With that in mind, World Athletics said it would "prioritise fairness and the integrity of the female competition before inclusion" and that the organization would create a working group "to further consider the issue of transgender inclusion" for a 12-month period.
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