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The international governing body for athletics - World Athletics on Thursday (March 22) announced some crucial decisions on the eligibility regulations for transgender athletes. The international body in one of its decisions banned transgender women for competing under female category at the world level.
The Council agreed to update eligibility for transgender and Differences of Sexual Development (DSD) athletes. While under the updated version, the Council has agreed to exclude male-to-female transgender athletes from female World Ranking competitions, starting March 31, the DSD athletes will require to reduce their testosterone level (below 2.5 nmol/L) from the earlier mentioned level to compete internationally in female category.
However, the international body has agreed to set up a World Group for a period of twelve months to consider the issue of transgender inclusion further. Announcing some of these key points during the meeting, World Athletics President Sebastian Coe said, “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 , " he further added.
In another major update, the Council has agreed to reinstate the Russian Federation (RusAF) following its seven-year suspension due to institutional doping violations. However, the athletes, officials and supporting personnel from Russia and Belarus will still be excluded from the competition for foreseeable future post Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
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