Reuters
[ Source: Reuters ]
Female athletes will soon have to undergo a one-time genetic test to compete in women’s events, World Athletics president Sebastian Coe said on Tuesday, after proposals to tighten eligibility rules were discussed at the body’s council.
Coe said regulations would be drafted soon and the global body, which governs track-and-field and road-running events, would find a test provider with the capacity to conduct the non-invasive cheek swab or dry blood spot analysis tests.
Athletes would have to take the test just once in their careers to show that they do not have the SRY gene, which determines male sex in humans and most other mammals.
Like other sports, athletics has spent years debating eligibility criteria to compete in women’s events, amid questions over biological advantages for transgender athletes and those with differences of sex development (DSD).
World Athletics now bans transgender women who have gone through male puberty from competing in women’s events, and requires female DSD athletes whose bodies produce high testosterone levels to lower them in order to be eligible.
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