Some thoughts on www.bbc.co.uk/sport/46453958
"The practice of sport is a human right."
But competing at the highest level is not.
"McKinnon, who transitioned in her late-20s, says that results in "pretty radical physiological changes", with muscle mass, strength and speed all reduced. It also, claims McKinnon, "compounds ageing".
Sport at the highest level (like world championships) involves human beings performing extraordinary feats with a combination of physique, aptitude and skill that most of us don’t possess. Doping is unfair as it allows competitors to unnaturally exceed their innate physiology. So what’s the point of talking drugs that undermine your natural strength? Spectators don’t want to watch a race where e.g. Dina Asher Smith is handicapped in some way, spectators want to watch her perform at the peak of her ability.
"We permit very tall women to compete against short women in sports that select for tallness like basketball, volleyball or rowing, and we consider that fair. So we permit very large competitive advantages through natural characteristics.”
No, if you’re short you’re never going to compete at elite level in basketball, rowing etc. Tall people are always going to be better than you. I believe Kath Grainger took up rowing when someone approached her at Edinburgh Uni because she is tall and asked her to have a go. No-one’s stopping you doing these sports recreationally if you’re smaller, but there will come a point when you won’t be able to progress due to your physique.
"It also depends on the sport.
Regarding Charlie Martin, in motor sport there’s also the element that it’s the car manufacturers who are competing with each other as much as the drivers themselves. So using motor sport as a justification is a little odd.
For sports like cycling, where if you're going uphill you want to be as light as possible but as powerful as possible, someone with a larger skeleton is going to be carrying more weight, which is not helping them."
There’s always an element of horses for courses in cycling. Mark Cavendish will never win the Tour de France as he can’t do the long climbs as well as the other riders, but as a sprinter he is among the best in the world. That’s down to his natural physiology. But all the TdF competitors start with the bottom line that they are adult males.
If you compare cyclists like Emma Pooley (5’2”, slight build, high power to weight ratio so ideal for climbing but less effective on the level) and Kirsten Wild (5’9”, strong build, powerful over the flat but her heavier build less suited to climbing), they were never going to win the same races even though they’re both adult females.