Sports governing body World Athletics has announced that competitors entering female competitions must undertake mandatory sex testing under a new policy released amid an ongoing row about trans athletes.
The international athletics organisation said that the tests, which come as part of its campaign to “protect women’s sports,” would seek to verify if a competitor has undergone male puberty or has a difference in sex development that provides so-called “testosterone advantages.”
The body’s president, Lord Sebastian Coe, said that the pre-clearance tests will be for anyone seeking to be able to compete in any of its female categories, including track-and-field, cross country, mountain running, and other events.
“This we feel is a really important way of providing confidence and maintaining that absolute focus on the integrity of competition,” he said. “The process is very straightforward frankly, very clear and it’s an important one and we will work on the timelines.”
Lord Coe said that the process could involve “non-invasive” tests such as cheek swabs or dry blood tests to monitor an athlete’s testosterone levels.
“Neither of these are invasive,” he said. “They are necessary and they will be done to absolute medical standards.”
The decision comes following concerns over the future of trans participation in the 2028 LA Olympics following US president Donald Trump’s declaration that there are only “two sexes – male and female.”
While the International Olympics Committee (IOC) has formerly functioned on a policy of inclusion, its incoming president, Kirsty Coventry, has previously said she aims to “protect the female category and athletes” from trans competitors.
The retired competitive swimmer said to Sky News following her appointment to the position that she hasn’t ruled out the possibility of implementing trans-exclusionary policies for the female category, saying she wishes to meet with international sporting federations to “sit down and try and come up with a collective way forward for all of us to move.”
This is despite an IOC-backed study, published in April 2024, which suggests claims that trans women are inherently advantaged in sports is not true.
The study, published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine, highlighted the “complexity” of the question, saying that, in many aspects, trans people are disadvantaged compared to their cisgender peers.
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