World Athletics To ‘Exclude Male-to-Female Transgender Athletes’ From Competing in Female Events Starting This Month

The World Athletics announced after a council vote that “male-to-female transgender athletes who have been through male puberty” will not be eligible for competition in female sports.

World Athletics is the international governing body that regulates rules for cross-country running, road running, track and field, and ultra running.

In a press conference on Thursday afternoon, the governing body’s president, Sebastian Coe, announced that World Athletics will bar transgender women athletes from female events.

He said:

The council has agreed to exclude male-to-female transgender athletes who have been through male puberty from female world ranking competitions from March the 31st this year.

However, in order to do further research into our transgender eligibility guideline, we will be establishing a working group whose remit will be to consult specifically with transgender athletes to seek views on competing in athletics to review and maybe commission additional research where there is currently limited research, and to put forward recommendations to council.

Video of the presser, which covered several policy announcements, was shared on social media Thursday.

https://twitter.com/ReduxxMag/status/1638959505139441664?s=20

DSD (differences of sexual development) athletes have new rules to abide by, per a statement on World Athletics official website.

For DSD athletes, the new regulations will require any relevant athletes to reduce their testosterone levels below a limit of 2.5 nmol/L for a minimum of 24 months to compete internationally in the female category in any event, not just the events that were restricted (400m to one mile) under the previous regulations.

In a press release on their website, World Athletics also announced that Russian and Belarius athletes are still banned from competition due to the ongoing war after Russia invaded Ukraine.

The statement reads:

The Council agreed to the reinstatement of the Russian Federation (RusAF) following seven years of suspension due to egregious institutional doping violations. However, athletes, officials and supporting personnel from Russia and Belarus are still excluded from competition for the foreseeable future due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The sanctions against athletes who live in Russia and Belarus were first announced in March 2022 but will continue. The statement added that athletes, support personnel, and Member Federation officials cannot:

a. No hosting of any International or European athletics events, which includes World Athletics Series, Continental Tour meetings and other International Competitions;

b. no right to attend, speak and/or cote at meetings of Congress;

c. no accrediation to attend any World Athletics Series events;

d. no involvement of Member Federation personnel in any official World Athletics development or professional programmes; and

e. Athletes, Athlete Support Personnel, Member Federation Officials and Officials who are Citizens of Russia and Belarus are excluded from World Athletics Series Events for the foreseeable future.

Watch above via @ReduxxMag on Twitter.