The International Athletics Federation has taken a major shift in its policy towards transgender athletes by excluding them from the female category, which it intends to “
protect
”, announced its president Sebastian Coe on Thursday March 23.
“
The (World Athletics) Council has decided to exclude male and female transgender athletes who have experienced male puberty from international women's competitions
,” Sebastian Coe announced after three days of Council meetings.
"
The World Athletics Council has taken clear measures to protect the women's category of our sport
," said the Briton, adding that the measure would apply from March 31.
"We're not saying no forever"
The announcement came as a surprise when the body had indicated at the end of January that it was studying a "
priority option
", to toughen the now obsolete current regulations, which regulated the participation of transgender people by asking them to regulate their testosterone levels.
“
World Athletics consulted various stakeholders during the first two months of the year, member federations, coaches, the Athletes' Commission, the IOC and associations of transgender people and the defense of human rights.
We have seen the lack of support for the option proposed at first
, “said the body in a press release.
“
For many, the evidence that trans women do not retain an advantage over biological women is insufficient.
They want more evidence (...) before considering the option of inclusion in the women's category
, ”detailed Sebastian Coe.
"
We are not saying
'
no
'
forever
," he added, indicating that a specific working group would be created to study future scientific developments.
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) had asked sports federations in November 2021 to establish their own criteria to allow transgender and intersex people to compete at high level.
Russians still excluded
World Athletics also tightened its rules on Thursday for intersex athletes like Caster Semenya, who must now maintain their testosterone levels below the threshold of 2.5 nmol / L for 24 months, instead of 5 nmol / L for 6 months to compete in the women's category.
Above all, the regulations now apply to all disciplines and no longer only to races ranging from 400 m to the mile (1,610 m), as has been the case since 2018.
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This rule had been denounced by the emblematic South African Caster Semenya, double Olympic champion in the 800m, who still refuses to comply with it with hormonal treatment or an operation, after having lost the appeals brought in particular before the Arbitral Tribunal of the sports (TAS).
During three busy meeting days, the World Athletics Council also spoke out twice on the Russian question.
Russian and Belarusian athletes remain excluded "
for the near future
" from any international competition, as has been the case since the invasion of Ukraine in early 2022.
The position of Olympic sport N.1 was particularly expected, while the debate swells on their reintegration into world sport a year and a half before the Paris Olympic Games, for which the qualifications have already started.
World Athletics has, however, decided to reinstate the Russian Athletics Federation (Rusaf), which had been suspended for more than seven years following a major doping scandal.
An important moment for international athletics after an interminable reintegration process, which however does not change the current situation of Russian athletes, deprived of competition.
