Sport’s burning issue
The Government is preparing to act on the problem that is causing heated debate among athletes and administrators with Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries demanding a clear and united solution.
The Government is preparing a major intervention over “the biggest issue facing women’s Olympic sport” by calling a summit of the country’s most senior sports leaders to form new policies on trans inclusion.
Telegraph Sport understands that there is private dismay throughout the sector, particularly among senior women leaders, over the handling of an issue that is causing concern about the future of elite women’s sport, while trans athletes have been left in limbo over their futures.
In September, the UK’S sports councils collectively concluded that the inclusion of trans women in sport could not balance fairness and safety in a single model, and suggested bespoke solutions, including “open” categories or modified competition.
Subsequent progress has been minimal, with several leading women executives telling the Telegraph cthat past policies have been underpinned by “lazy” attitudes among largely male sports leaders to an issue that almost exclusively impacts women.
Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries is now convening a meeting at which sports chief executives and key performance staff will be encouraged to agree a clear direction of travel based on the evidence of the sports councils’ report. That meeting is expected to be held within weeks. Separately, major international governing bodies in Olympic sports are privately formulating revised trans guidance that is expected to go significantly further than the 12-month five nanomoles per litre testosterone limit currently used in many sports.
Swimming’s governing body, Fina, is understood to be presenting its new policy in June, and there is a hope inside the Government that action among British sports federations will help to frame the wider response to an issue with which world sport is grappling.
This week the Telegraph spoke to several influential executives who said that they felt the subject had been mishandled due to a historic complacency. “It is at the absolute top of the agenda now – but I don’t think they have appreciated how big this issue is,” said one. “It was previously handed down to equality, diversity and inclusion teams. Most of the governing bodies have a male CEO and it just wasn’t seen as a big issue. But there would be hell to pay if men’s sport could be impacted in the same way.
“They should have been all over this. It is the policy’s fault. It is not the fault of the trans athletes. They are being placed in a terrible situation. They have got to sort this out before it affects more athletes.”
Stephen Park, British Cycling’s performance director, said it was the single “biggest issue facing Olympic women’s sport” after the situation reached crisis point this month. Emily Bridges, who had followed the rules of cycling’s governing body, the UCI, for suppressing her testosterone, was still blocked from competing in the women’s British omnium championship, pending a six-week UCI review.
Meanwhile leading British women had been considering a boycott. Sara Symington, the head of Olympic and Paralympic programmes at British Cycling, then signed a letter calling for the testosterone inclusion limit to be scrapped.
“The testosterone assessment is ridiculous – born of laziness,” one senior sports administrator told the Telegraph, adding that it had been jumped on by governing bodies after the International Olympic Committee decided that it was a plausible way forward.
As well as the government intervention, the charity Women in Sport quietly published a statement this month in which it provided a framework in which governing bodies could approach the issue.
It described the research conducted last year by the sports councils as “extensive, peer-reviewed and the best evidence we have at this time” and said that arguments about its validity would distract from finding solutions.
The guidance concludes that “the inclusion of transgender people into female sport cannot be balanced regarding transgender inclusion, fairness and safety in gender-affected sport where there is meaningful competition”, and pointed to probable retained advantages in strength and physicality.
Women in Sport has now urged governing bodies “to avoid being led by reputation” and instead to “focus on what is right and wrong”.
Although Boris Johnson, the Prime Minister, has said that he does not think trans women should compete in women’s sport, the Government is expected to emphasise the sports councils’ report rather than to mandate action. “The sports council summary is now there but it was not being acted upon,” said one source. “I think if more women were running sport, this would have been picked on much quicker. The right people weren’t thinking about it – it was being delegated to quite junior staff. Why? I think it is because the only people it really affects are women.”
Dorries spoke publicly about the issue last week, saying: “You can choose your gender and we will support you and help you to do that … but you cannot change your biology”.
British Cycling has suspended its transgender policy, pending a review for which the terms of reference are still being finalised. A decision by the UCI on the Bridges case is expected in around two weeks.
The unease was palpable, even in Bridges’ absence, at the national track championships in Derby, and many of the greatest riders from previous generations subsequently signed a letter calling for trans inclusion guidance to be scrapped.
There has separately since been an open letter organised by the Pride Out group, which has 560 signatories, calling for British Cycling to revoke its suspension of trans athletes in women’s races.
It is understood that Bridges is the only rider to have gone through the process of applying to have their racing licence changed from male to female and there is a
‘The International Olympic Committee is not in a position to issue regulations that define eligibility criteria for every sport.’
From the IOC Framework on Fairness, Inclusion and Non-discrimination on the Basis of Gender Identity and Sex Variations, November 2021
‘It’s not the fault of the trans athletes. They are being placed in a terrible situation’
clear feeling that the reaction to her case has been disproportionate.
It has also been argued that it runs counter to the IOC policy that there should be no assumed advantage among trans athletes. Bridges is among those contributing to a research project at Loughborough University that is designed to answer questions about any retained advantages. In an interview with Cycling Weekly, she reported significant reductions in her power output.
Women athletes are also beginning to voice their opinions. Olympic gold medallist Katie Archibald posted a statement last week, endorsed by Laura Kenny, in which she strongly condemned the treatment of Bridges but also stressed the importance of “fairness”.
“I think young women would be very welcoming and supportive of people transitioning, but elite sport is perhaps the one area where inclusion doesn’t work,” said one executive.
In the human-rights community, there is concern that other important questions are being overlooked amid a narrow focus on questions of fairness. Also that ethical questions around testosterone suppression are not being considered fully and that the sports councils’ research did not sufficiently consider the real-life experiences of trans athletes. But, whether nationally or internationally, the direction of travel appears clear. “I can’t think of many issues where the public debate had turned so quickly – and that discourse has helped those sports who are looking at taking a more hardline stance,” said one insider.