World Athletics Introduces Gene Test For Female Category

Athletes who want to compete successful nan female class for world ranking competitions from September will person to return a one-time cistron test, says governing assemblage World Athletics.

The caller regulations come into effect from 1 September, external and will beryllium applied to nan World Athletics Championships, which return spot from 13-21 September successful Tokyo.

The trial for nan SRY cistron - which is portion of nan Y chromosome and causes antheral characteristics to create - tin beryllium conducted via a feature swab aliases humor test.

If nan trial is antagonistic for nan Y chromosome, nan jock is eligible to compete successful nan female category.

If it is positive, they tin compete successful nan female class successful non-world ranking competitions aliases successful different class different than nan female one.

It is simply a trial to beryllium taken erstwhile successful a life and will beryllium overseen by personnel federations.

"It is really important successful a athletics that is permanently trying to pull much women that they participate a athletics believing location is nary biologic solid ceiling," said World Athletics president Lord Coe.

In a often asked questions page published by World Athletics, nan trial is described arsenic being "extremely accurate" and states "the consequence of mendacious antagonistic aliases affirmative is highly unlikely".

World Boxing besides approved nan usage of nan SRY trial successful May erstwhile it introduced mandatory activity testing for each athletes.

"We are saying, astatine elite level, for you to compete successful nan female class you person to beryllium biologically female," said Coe.

"It was ever very clear to maine and nan World Athletics Council that gender cannot trump biology.

"We peculiarly want to convey our personnel federations for their support and committedness successful nan implementation of these caller regulations."

World Athletics approved nan preamble of a test successful March to find if an jock is biologically female.

It was 1 of respective recommendations approved astatine that month's World Athletics Council meeting, to tighten regulations complete nan eligibility of transgender and quality of activity improvement (DSD) athletes.

World Athletics banned transgender athletes who had gone done antheral puberty from competing successful nan female class successful world title successful March 2023.

A moving group besides recommended World Athletics merge regulations for some DSD and transgender athletes aft it said caller grounds showed testosterone suppression "can only ever partially mitigate nan wide antheral advantage successful nan athletics of athletics".

The existent rules for DSD athletes required them to trim their testosterone levels to a group level for astatine slightest six months to compete successful immoderate female class arena internationally.

Earlier successful July, nan European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) ruled that two-time Olympic golden medallist Caster Semenya had her correct to a adjacent proceeding violated by nan Swiss Federal Supreme Court erstwhile she mislaid a 2020 entreaty against World Athletics regulations that efficaciously barred her from competing.

Semenya, 34, was calved pinch DSD and has been incapable to compete successful nan 800m since 2019, erstwhile World Athletics brought successful rules restricting testosterone levels for way events from 400m up to nan mile.

The lawsuit astatine nan ECHR was not against sporting bodies aliases DSD rules, but specifically against Switzerland's authorities for not protecting Semenya's rights.