Athletics: China field a women’s relay team featuring two men

The IOC rules for transgender athletes require men to have testosterone levels below 10nmol/L for 12 months before the event and keep their testosterone below this level to remain eligible to compete in the female category

And as we all know, China is totes reliable when it comes to visible, open, trustworthy anti-doping/drug testing procedures...

The IOC rules for transgender athletes require men to have testosterone levels below 10nmol/L for 12 months before the event and keep their testosterone below this level to remain eligible to compete in the female category. Other than this they only have to declare that they have a 'female gender identity'. There is no requirement to do anything else. So they are free to have a 'male gender presentation' and of course, to keep their penis. So we should expect to see more of these men with a female gender identity. These rules were only updated to remove any requirement for surgery late in 2015, so 2020 will be the first Olympics where cheats will have had time to prepare properly.

Interestingly, the IOC doesn't explain what a 'female gender identity' actually is, so I suppose it's whatever the declarer of a 'female gender identity' says it is.

IOC transgender rules

It was inevitable that as soon as men were allowed to identify their way into women's sports, highly competitive countries would take advantage, which will drag in everyone else until women's sports are destroyed.

Men need to stay out of women's sports.

As much as this all infuriates me, there's a tiny part of me that's looking forward to seeing the Russian athletes next year...

Would Jazz be able to run or jump or perform any physical sport to Olympic standards given their health problems? Are they just unlucky?

That’s why Owl is stupid. A male whose body has been fixed in a pre-pubertal state can’t compete with elite adult females, and a male whose body is suffering side effects of medications used to perpetuate that state and hormonally alter the body and its shape definitely can’t compete with elite adult females. It’s just more anti-scientific nonsense from TRAs.

I don't know the science well but based on what I've seen, I'm not sure puberty blockers and then hormones set a body up well for sporting success. Aren't there serious side effects that could affect performance at an elite level?

China won't play any long games or have any trans strategies, they'll be out to win and if that means putting men in the women's teams they'll do it.
I remember watching the ice skating doubles finals with the Chinese couple in the winter Olympics a few years back. The commentator explained that they had choreographed the dance to put all the difficult jumps and moves in the second half of the sequence as they would get higher points (as the athletes would be more tired).
Cue a first minute of lovely easier moves and gliding around and a second minute of non-stop throws and spins. They won gold and fair enough they were good and followed the rules.
Other countries will follow, Russia for example won't let itself be beaten by the USA and China fielding men in the women's categories.
The Olympics is highly competitive.

Yeah, let's put kids on a path to body mutilation and lifelong reliance on hormones just in case they want to compete in a different sex category when they grow up. What could possibly go wrong?

@anomoony
😂😂

I have real concerns that the TRAs will have to throw up their hands and admit defeat on the issue of sports - this will, in turn, give them justification for the use of puberty blockers and cross sex hormones for children pre-puberty. I’m scared they’re playing a very long game

This has already happened:

mobile.twitter.com/uglastefania/status/1143993858390405120?lang=en

Owl@UglaStefania

In light of @Martina's doc, it's worthy to mention that we have a growing generation of young trans people that have access to puberty blockers and later on hormones. This means that a growing population of trans people never have to go through the wrong puberty. #transathlete

Even if you were a strong supporter of trans athletes, the opportunity for countries to drug unwilling athletes through force or bribery or in Iran case for being gay must be a concern. The destruction of the East German bodies through no fault of their own repeated on a larger scale but with the support of the governing bodies.

If i were the BBC i would be lining up a lot of parent interviews. Because nothing creates sympathy for an athlete like a crazily dedicated parent. So there will be people who start to say 'wt.. thats a man isnt it?' and the beeb will cut straight to Clare Balding doing a cuddly twinkly interview with the parents of said athlete being cute and lovely about their child's amazing journey and how much they had to contend with, long waiting lists etc but athletics was welcoming and so was their lovely girlfriend. And the nation or at least some of it will say 'ah, poor thing, arent they fantastic' and everything will be fiiiiine.

There will be no interviews with the parents of the girls who didn't get to qualify. And they may never be sure whether they werent good enough or just too inconveniently female for 2020.

I don’t think so Barbara because the Olympics is not an individual event - it is also a national one. I can’t see China, Russia etc allowing athletes to throw events.

You see I'm cynical enough to think Tokyo will just be part of the game plan. A relatively small number of events will have biological males in, and some of them will lose... (possibly some will even throw events - we've seen this happen already in minor events so as to establish a record of "see we don't always win.") Some competitors might even deliberately come second in qualifying, only to win the final.

The end result will be the viewing public goes WTAF, while the sports authorities and BBC, Washington Post, Canadian broadcasting etc go "see, nothing to worry about here, transwomen win the odd event but not all of them (because they're not in all the events yet they won't add) so see, level playing field." Even among the public, it'll depend on whether the competitor is their national or not - in fact I predict that given the tendency towards cognitive dissonance in humans, many viewers will simultaneously be able to cheer on "their own" transwomen while accusing other countries transwomen of cheating if "their" woman comes second.

Then, after a lot of confused faces but not enough actual outrage, transwomen's place in women's sports becomes entrenched and the numbers increase and increase and increase. It might take 8 years, it might take 16, but eventually you won't see women on the podium at all. But by that stage it will be too late and everyone barring the old crones (me among them) will remember women's sport.

I’m sure people will sit up and take notice. It’s too absurd - pythonesque in its ridiculousness. Everyone will peak and be outraged. Then they will agree, concede that post-pubescent transwomen cannot compete fairly. The only solution will be to ensure trans children cannot got through puberty (adjusts foil hat).

I am now half-hoping the Tokyo games will be awash with trans identified men cheating in women’s sport.

I'm with you on that. That's what you need to bring it home to people. Two or three men in the more obscure events, and no one takes any notice, but if you suddenly have men sweeping the board in the major events like 100m and 200m, then people will sit up. One hopes.

I am now half-hoping the Tokyo games will be awash with trans identified men cheating in women’s sport.

And people with penises can take part in the women's races and people with vaginas can take part in the men's. Except you never see people with vaginas in the men's races because having a penis gives you all sorts of advantages in sports like bigger hearts and denser muscles. But of course these advantages don't exist for people with penises who take part in the women's races because...magic.

Strike me down if I ever call men "people with penises".

Funny how Eastern block countries were eventually stripped of sport medals and titles after many years of women saying ‘that’s a woman with male hormones!’. Now they don’t even pretend.

And I thought 3 out of 4... double pants are a clue...

The Chinese are not cheating. They are playing by the rules. Just like England won the cricket world cup with an Irish captain, because they could. Just like the Chinese turned up at the 2012 games with 16 year old gymnasts (the minimum age) who two years earlier were twelve. (Just change the birth certs, all legit.)

MilHouse
I'm scared they playing a very long game
I agree with this. Now who could be interested in sterile, prepubescent child like people with very few sexual boundaries?

Fuck off china, we've got eyes you know

Reality is such a retro thing to believe in...

If they say they are female of course they are female, facts, science, reality don't come into it.

Can't really blame the Chinese, as far as I can tell they are playing by the rules?

All this very carefully and deliberately worded "they are female because they are not taking testosterone / have t-levels under x"

Is the new "I did not have sexual relations with that woman"

Fuck off china, we've got eyes you know.

I have real concerns that the TRAs will have to throw up their hands and admit defeat on the issue of sports - this will, in turn, give them justification for the use of puberty blockers and cross sex hormones for children pre-puberty. I’m scared they’re playing a very long game