A thread...

1./ The IOCs decision to make no ruling on the participation of transwomen athletes in female sport before Tokyo2020 confirms that the IOC like many others have forgotten how and why sport is segregated in the first place in the heat of the gender debate

2./ Sport is segregated to address physical differences where those differences confer an unfair advantage. In some sports (e.g. equestrian) sport is not segregated at all as any advantage is not seen as significant.

3./ Some sports are segregated by sex (e.g. swimming/track&field) these seek to address the more than 6000 differences between male & female physiology. Some sports are segregated by sex and weight categories to ensure skill is recognised and athletes can compete fairly.

4./ The >6000 differences between male and female bodies include average height difference, longer limbs, bigger hands and feet, larger lungs and hearts, different muscle mass, more fast twitch fibres. These are not significantly addressed by suppression of Testosterone.

5./ The use of artificial testosterone by female athletes is prohibited and any female athlete caught doping can expect a substantial punitive ban. Why then should a transwomen athlete who has benefitted from testosterone for years be allowed to compete?

6./ The only current scientific, peer reviewed study on the impact of testosterone (a Swedish study) concluded that suppressing testosterone for a year had only a minimal impact on muscle mass. Even at current limits a TW has a testosterone level many times that of a natal female

7./ Which brings me to the ‘tall woman’ argument. The argument that nobody objects to tall woman competing in women’s sport. The simple answer to that is that we don’t segregate sport by height. But for those that want to argue about it...

8./ The tallest woman will still be proportionately smaller than the tallest man, the average woman will still be smaller than the average man. A good comparison from elite sport is Missy Franklin v Ryan Lochte.

9./ Both are elite swimmers and multi-medalists at major champs. They are roughly the same height and have the same arm span. Lochte’s times in Missy’s favoured events are roughly 10 seconds faster. Franklin wouldn’t make the same team never mind a final.

10./ These are the comparable T&F WR stats at the end of last summer and have not been updated to include, for example, the new PV world record. All junior men’s WRs are better than women’s records and the average age at which a boy exceeds the senior women’s record is 14.

11./ For those who remember the state sponsored doping of the 1970s and 1980s it is not a stretch to imagine unscrupulous nations taking second tier men, persuading them to lower testosterone and presenting a women’s team in which no natal females compete.

12./ Medal’s are one thing but consider also safety. Under World Rugby recommendations players 18 under should not compete with players more than one year older for safety and development reasons but it’s fine for a male bodied athlete to compete against women?

13./ How do you tell the family of a seriously injured athlete in a number of sports that her safety was less important than somebody else’s feelings or identity?

14./ Lastly the socio economic impact of sport on women’s lives was eloquently set out by Doriane Coleman in her evidence to CAS in the Caster Semenya case. Sport is often the catalyst to opportunities not otherwise available...opportunities now being denied to natal women.

15./ Sport is not segregated by sex to validate our gender identity but to address our biology and to ensure a fair playing field for women.

We must continue to ensure that there is #fairplayforwomen.