IAAF is right to set testosterone limits
IT IS an irrevocable fact that generally men are physically stronger than women.
The reason for this is that males produce more testosterone (a hormone that is classified as an androgen) than females.
Testosterone enables men to develop larger skeletal muscles and hearts.
This enables men to generate more power, strength, as well as speed.
Testosterone also increases the production of red blood cells, which absorb oxygen, giving men a greater advantage aerobically. Therefore men outperform women by a huge margin in competitions that require endurance, such as long-distance running.
In view of this it is imperative that, for competition purposes, a comprehensive differentiation between male and female athletes is set to level the playing field.
There is no doubt that a female who is endowed with excessive, naturally-occurring testosterone has a competitive edge over her fellow competitors.
However, there is also the issue of androgen sensitivity. A person may have excessive testosterone in the blood serum but if he or she is androgen insensitive the development of the typical male characteristics will be absent. Therefore, classifying female athletes based on observable external genitalia is not a fait accompli.
If everyone accepts that doping with exogenous testosterone is illegal and has – rightly – been banned by all sport governing bodies, then why shouldn’t excessive endogenous testosterone in females be illegal?
In a study published in The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism in 2014, it was found that the level of blood testosterone in a group of 849 elite female athletes was 3.08 nano-mols per litre in 99% of athletes and they were below 5 .
In view of this the International Association of Athletics
Federation is correct in setting a limit of 5mmol/l of blood testosterone for female athletes in certain athletics events.
PRAVIN RAJCOOMAR
Durban