Our toxic gender politics are killing women’s sport

The relentless march of coronavirus isn’t the only thing threatening to derail the Tokyo Olympics this summer.

Today, New Zealand weightlifter Laurel Hubbard will continue her bid to take part – helped by Olympic rules which currently allow any transwoman to compete against biological females, provided her testosterone levels are below a certain level for at least 12 months before her first competition. But this will not lessen the innate advantages enjoyed by those who have experienced puberty as males, such as bone and muscle density, larger lung capacity or heart size.

In recent years I’ve become concerned by the increasingly common sight of trans athletes on podiums, flanked by two biologically female runners-up. The “losers” mainly manage a fauxsporting rictus grin

– but inside they must be seething. I can still recall my overwhelming pride at winning a few exceptionally mediocre club tennis tournaments as a teenager. For professional athletes, the heartbreak of seeing your entire life’s endeavour snatched away from you must be indescribable.

Can Hubbard and her ilk really have no sense of the injustice of this? No flicker of regret? No recognition that they are writing their fellow athletes out of history and rendering their efforts useless?

Allowing this travesty to continue will destroy women’s sport. And something more profound will be lost in the process – the essential qualities underpinning competition. There is something quasitotalitarian in the way we are being compelled to pretend this is normal, when it’s hard to imagine a cruder, more flagrant example of injustice. There are shades of Orwell – “Oceania had always been at war with Eastasia” – not to mention overtones of Lewis Carroll. Like Alice, we are invited to believe six impossible things before breakfast.

Any sceptic who dares to point out the obvious – that it’s not fair – is immediately silenced by the resulting social media storm whipped up by trans activists.

This issue affects every woman, Olympian or couch potato. Make all sports “gender-neutral” tomorrow and the vast majority of biologically male athletes would be unaffected. The best would continue winning their medals; the rest would be placed according to their natural talent and dedication. But it would catastrophically tilt the “level playing field” biological women could until recently expect, opening the door to trans domination of top-class events and making a mockery of so-called “female” sports across the board.

Under these circumstances, women should refuse to compete, the public refuse to spectate and sponsors should shut off the flow of cash that drives the international circuits. Unless we all take a stand, this nonsense is set to continue. How refreshing if the men chose to boycott their competitions too. Everyone should be outraged on behalf of the female athletes who train to the limit for years, only to see their dreams of glory sacrificed on the altar of toxic gender politics.