Athletics may follow Fina policy
Suspensions on transgender women in international swimming and rugby league this week opened the door for track and field to consider following suit in what could turn into a wave of policy changes in Olympic sports.
The announcement by swimming’s governing body, Fina, was followed quickly by a show of support from World Athletics President Sebastian Coe, who was in Hungary for the swimming world championships. He said Fina’s decision was in the best interest of swimming and that his own federation, which oversees track and field and other running sports, would review its policies on transgender athletes and intersex athletes at the end of the year.
‘‘If we ever get pushed into a corner to that point where we’re making a judgment about fairness or inclusion, I will always fall down on the side of fairness,’’ Coe said.
Experts viewed that as a signal that World Athletics officials could use the Fina precedent to block all transgender and intersex athletes — the latter referred to by clinical terminology as having differences in sex development — from competing in women’s events.
Fina’s new policy bans all transgender women from elite competitions if they didn’t begin medical treatment to suppress testosterone production before either the onset of puberty or by age 12, whichever comes later. USA Swimming put its own policy in place earlier this year, with the idea that it would eventually follow Fina’s lead, but this week said it would need time to see how Fina’s policy affects its own.
Should track and field adopt a similar rule to Fina, Caster Semenya, an athlete with differences in sex development, still would be kept out of races at her chosen distance, the 800 metres.
The International Rugby League also barred transgender women from women’s matches until more studies allow for the sport’s regulators to come up with a cohesive inclusion policy. The International Cycling Union last week updated its eligibility rules for transgender athletes; it increased the period during which transgender athletes on women’s teams must lower their testosterone level to two years rather than one.
Fifa, which runs football, said it is ‘‘currently reviewing its gender eligibility regulations in consultation with expert stakeholders.’’