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Rejecting the demands of leftists, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) has decided that simply identifying as “transgender” will not give biological male athletes a right to compete against biological females.
In a momentous announcement, the IOC will also no longer use testosterone testing to determine whether a biological male can compete against females.
Moving forward, the IOC will now let the individual governing bodies of each sport to “determine how an athlete may be at a disproportionate advantage against their peers, taking into consideration the nature of each sport.”
IOC spokesman Christian Klaue admits, “We have not found the solution to this big question which is out there.”
“But what we have tried to do is outline a process which helps international federations to set eligibility criteria and to find solutions,” she continues.
“And we will continue helping them doing that work. But clearly, this is a topic that will be with us for a long time. … It’s a long-term project.”
Even though the IOC is dropping its previous method of testing testosterone, the individual governing bodies of each sport can still use this method. However, this method fails to address how biological males still often possess an unfair advantage as a result of puberty despite showing lower testosterone levels.
“Medical information about an athlete, including testosterone levels, that is collected in the context of anti-doping or otherwise, must be handled in compliance with applicable privacy laws and should be used only for purposes disclosed to the athletes at the time such information is collected,” the committee stated.
The first transgender athlete of the Summer Olympics recently competed — a Candian soccer player.
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The previous ruling — which has been in place since 2015 — required transgender women to meet a testosterone level below 10 nmoI/L for at least 12 months prior to competition in order to participate. Now, the IOC has laid out a 10-part framework for each individual sport to adhere to when determining the eligibility of an athlete.
“Athletes should never be pressured by an International Federation, sports organization, or any other party (either by way of the eligibility criteria or otherwise) to undergo medically unnecessary procedures or treatment to meet eligibility criteria,” the committee said.
“Provided they meet eligibility criteria that are consistent with principle 4, athletes should be allowed to compete in the category that best aligns with their self-determined gender identity,” the committee continued. “Criteria to determine disproportionate competitive advantage may, at times, require testing of an athlete’s performance and physical capacity. However, no athlete should be subject to targeted testing because of, or aimed at determining, their sex, gender identity and/or sex variations.”
The IOC also stated that there should be “no presumption of advantage” when evaluating whether a trangender woman can compete.
“No athlete should be precluded from competing or excluded from competition on the exclusive ground of an unverified, alleged or perceived unfair competitive advantage due to their sex variations, physical appearance and/or trangender status,” the committee said.
“Until evidence (per principle 6) determines otherwise, athletes should not be deemed to have an unfair or disproportionate competitive advantage due to their sex variations, physical appearance and/or transgender status,” the IOC added.
“Far too often, sport policy does not reflect the lived experience of marginalized athletes, and that’s especially true when it comes to transgender athletes and athletes with sex variations,” Quinn said in a statement. “This new IOC framework is groundbreaking in the way that it reflects what we know to be true — that athletes like me and my peers participate in sports without any inherent advantage, and that our humanity deserves to be respected.”
