R4 now!

MickeyMouse2021 · 10/07/2021 17:49

So despite this (and she was very clear on the science), New Zealander Laurel Hubbard will comptete at the Tokyo Olympics in weightlifting. That seems a bit wrong to me, especially given this injustice:

www.telegraph.co.uk/triathlon/0/olympic-triathlete-alistair-brownlee-disqualified-tokyo-ridiculous/

"He may look like a computer programmer, but he has a legitimate claim to be reckoned the finest all-round athlete this country has produced since Daley Thompson.

A master of swimming, cycling and running, his record of success is astonishing, winning successive Olympic gold medals and four triathlon world championships. Along the way he has inspired thousands to squeeze into Lycra and take up the challenge of the gruelling sport in which he so excels. As someone once said to him (he thinks it was intended as a compliment): he’s an inspiration because he looks so normal it makes everyone think that if he can do it, they could too. And the rewards for his abilities are there all around him, set in Yorkshire stone.

‘Yeah I owe the Olympics a lot,’ he says, glancing round the place. ‘Actually I owe them everything.’

This summer however, he will not be adding to his roll call of Olympic glory.

Things went wrong during a World Championship Series race in Leeds in June. This was the final chance he had of gaining the necessary qualifying time for the Olympic Games, which open in Tokyo later this month. But almost as soon as the race got underway, as the athletes began the swimming leg, an eagle-eyed marshal accused him of ‘ducking’ (or pushing underwater) the American triathlete Chase McQueen.

Later, Brownlee tweeted to say any contact in the water, which inevitably boils with thrashing limbs in the opening moments of every race, was ‘completely unintentional’. He had, he added, ‘had worse done’ to him ‘in every World Series race I’ve ever done’. But his rationale fell on deaf ears.

He was disqualified under the rule which states: ‘Where competitors deliberately target another competitor to impede their progress, gain unfair advantage and potentially cause harm to another competitor will result in disqualification.’ His Tokyo dream was over."

Report

Weebleweeble · 09/07/2021 18:31

I thought she was very clear. She stated testosterone reduction would not impact on the other ways transwomen can outperform women across sports. Clear about male puberty.
Also said science should be brought into discussions.

Yes, very clear.

Report

EmbarrassingAdmissions · 09/07/2021 16:31

@ifIwerenotanandroid

Wasn't there a study years ago, with football supporters, which found that the men with lower levels of testosterone were more violent? I only remember it because it seemed to be unusual/counter-intuitive.

I'd have to read the book.

I recall quite an interesting study on Tsimane men who are notable for (comparatively) stable amounts of testosterone across their lifespans. This is associated with low incidence of obesity, heart disease and other illnesses linked with aging in other communities. Anthropologists explain this in the context of their environment. Crudely, high levels of testosterone compromise the male immune system, so it is narrative commonsense to maintain it at a stable level in environments where parasites and pathogens are frequently encountered.

It is relatively recently that the physical extravagance of having substantial spikes and fluctuations or sustained high levels of T has been acceptable because there are now societies and social roles that do not expose men to high levels of pathogens and parasites (remote Bolivia).

However, it was interesting to see that the Tsimane spiked T when involved in organised competition (arranged by the authors, iirc). Up by 30% immediately after the game and still 15% an hour later.*

*Lots of confounders apply, including the testing method [ reasons ] but it's quirky which is why it's stuck with me.

Full paper is open access: royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/pdf/10.1098/rspb.2012.0455

Trumble, B., Cummings, D., von Rueden, C., O’Connor, K., Smith, E.A., Gurven, M., Kaplan, H. 2012. Physical competition increases testosterone among Amazonian forager-horticulturalists: a test of the 'challenge hypothesis'. Proceedings of Royal Society B 279:2907-2912.

Report

GrimDamnFanjo · 09/07/2021 16:06

I thought she was very clear. She stated testosterone reduction would not impact on the other ways transwomen can outperform women across sports. Clear about male puberty.
Also said science should be brought into discussions.

Report

ifIwerenotanandroid · 09/07/2021 14:29

Wasn't there a study years ago, with football supporters, which found that the men with lower levels of testosterone were more violent? I only remember it because it seemed to be unusual/counter-intuitive.