Failing the Olympics fairness test

I read with some bemusement in Sport last week about Annet Negesa, the intersex athlete who has engaged a lawyer to seek ‘justice’ after allegedly being coerced into surgery before the London 2012 Olympics. Surely justice depends on fairness.

In sports that require strength and speed, humans born with male physiology have an innate competitive advantage over those with female physiology. This is why there are separate events for men and women in the Olympics – the fastest men will always beat the fastest women; the strongest men will always lift heavier weights than the strongest women.

It would be seen as neither fair nor rational to expect men and women to compete against each other in the same events. And it cannot be right that, in seeking to be ‘fair’ to one competitor, we should be unfair to all his or her opponents. We go to great lengths to ensure no athletes gain unfair competitive advantage by taking performance-enhancing drugs.

Let’s hope that Lord Coe’s

World Athletics organisation sticks to its guns and retains a maximum level of testosterone production in female athletes, even if the International Olympic Committee drops the restriction.

Mike Horgan, Heswall, Wirral