World Athletics To Introduce Gender Test For Females
BY OSABUOHIEN VIVIAN ROSE
Championships will be “required to undertake a once-in-a-lifetime test to prove their biological gender” in efforts to “avoid a repeat of the transgender boxing scandal” that took place at the 2024 Paris Games, according The Australian.
Athletes whose tests “show the presence of male chromosomes will not be allowed to compete in the female category at high-level competitions.” The new rules will come into effect on September 1, less than two weeks before the world championships begin in Tokyo.
One concern with the regulations and test is athletes who live with the condition called Disorders (or differences) in Sexual Development.
“According to the Cleveland Clinic, “Disorders of sexual development are conditions where a person’s reproductive organs and genitals are ‘mismatched’ at birth. Examples include male chromosomes (XY) and genitalia that appear female (vulva) or female chromosomes (XX) and genitalia that appear male (penis). Some people with DSDs have characteristics of both sexes.”
According to the National Health Service in Great Britain, “Differences in sex development (DSD) is a group of rare conditions involving genes, hormones and reproductive organs, including genitals. It means a person’s sex development is different to most other people’s.
“Sometimes the term Disorders of Sex Development is used, as is Variations in Sex Characteristics (VSC) or Diverse Sex Development. Some people prefer to use the term intersex.”
World Athletics currently bans transgender women who have gone through male puberty from competing in women’s events. The organization requires female DSD athletes whose bodies produce high testosterone levels to lower them in order to be eligible.
During the 2016 Rio Olympic Games, Canadian Melissa Bishop competed in the 800m final event, finishing fourth. The three athletes in front of her were each suspected to be DSD, including Caster Semenya from South Africa, who is.
Also, an Algerian boxer with male chromosomes defeated an Italian female boxer in the 2024 Paris Olympic Games boxing match. The fight was stopped at 46 seconds after Imane Khelif landed a devastating punch to the head.
According to the International Boxing Association, Khelif, who has XY chromosomes, is a biological male.
The event was repeated on social media and cast a pall on the Olympic Games and the sport of boxing. Boxing was already reeling from years of leadership issues that nearly removed the sport from the quadrennial event.
The World Athletics Council has approved new regulations concerning eligibility conditions to compete in the female category for world ranking competitions.
The new regulations come into effect on 1 September 2025. They will be applied to the World Athletics Championships Tokyo 25 that begins on 13 September.
The testing protocol will be overseen by Member Federations as they prepare their athletes and teams for the Championships in Tokyo.
Commenting on the new regulations and SRY test, World Athletics President Sebastian Coe said, “The philosophy that we hold dear in World Athletics is the protection and the promotion of the integrity of women’s sport. It is really important in a sport that is permanently trying to attract more women that they enter a sport believing there is no biological glass ceiling. The test to confirm biological sex is a very important step in ensuring this is the case.
“We are saying, at the elite level, for you to compete in the female category, you have to be biologically female. It was always very clear to me and the World Athletics Council that gender cannot trump biology.
“We particularly want to thank our Member Federations for their support and commitment in the implementation of these new regulations.”
The new regulations follow recommendations from the Gender Diverse Athlete Working Group approved by Council in March 2025. The Working Group spent over a year studying developments in law, science, sports and society concerning gender-diverse athletes.
