What exactly makes a woman? Track and field's world governing body thinks the answer has to do with levels of serum testosterone, at least when it comes to female runners competing in middle-distance races.
The International Association of Athletics Federation announced a new set of rules Thursday that will ban women who naturally produce higher-than-normal levels of testosterone from participating in races ranging from 400 meters to the mile, unless they agree to take medication. Athletes with the condition, called hyperandrogenism, would be eligible to compete at the international level only if they reduced blood testosterone levels through the use of hormonal contraceptives, including birth control pills. The rule will go into effect on Nov. 1.
"Our evidence and data show that testosterone, either naturally produced or artificially inserted into the body, provides significant performance advantages in female athletes," said IAAF President Sebastian Coe in a statement. "The revised rules are not about cheating, no athlete with a [difference of sexual development] has cheated, they are about levelling the playing field to ensure fair and meaningful competition in the sport of athletics where success is determined by talent, dedication and hard work rather than other contributing factors," he added.
The new stipulations are stricter than those established by the IAAF in 2011, which limited women's testosterone levels to 10 nanomoles per liter of blood. The new requirements reduce the limit by half to 5 nanomoles per liter. That is still far above levels in most women, including elite female athletes, whose levels range from 0.12 to 1.79 nanomoles per liter, states a 22-page IAAF document [auto-download PDF] defending the organization's decision. Meanwhile, the normal male range after puberty is much higher, from 7.7 to 29.4 nanomoles.
Previously, the Court of Arbitration for Sport struck down the IAAF's hyperandrogenism regulations in response to a challenge by sprinter Dutee Chand.
Related: The Caster Semenya Debate
The Olympics, Science and Intersex
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday April 29 2018, @11:42AM
Same for tennis too. https://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/28/sports/tennis/28serena.html [nytimes.com]
https://www.forbes.com/sites/allenstjohn/2015/08/31/john-mcenroe-cant-beat-serena-williams-but-some-journeyman-pro-at-the-u-s-open-could/#5f75d832650a [forbes.com]
FWIW women seem pretty good at ten pin bowling.
As for women with high testosterone, if too many women think it's so unfair then perhaps they should have a separate league for high testosterone women as suggested by someone else here. BUT if you look at the different body types of World/Olympics class people, we are selecting for "freaks" anyway - different height etc, so why not different testosterone? See: https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/11/19/howard-schatz-photos-women-professional-athletes_n_4297902.html [huffingtonpost.com]
https://www.boredpanda.com/athlete-body-types-comparison-howard-schatz/ [boredpanda.com]
https://ninamatsumoto.files.wordpress.com/2010/12/athletes16.jpg [wordpress.com]
By the way, a relative of mine proposed that there be a different league for shorter players for basketball. Doubt that'll ever happen though.