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

[Haworthia]

This was as predictable as the day is long. China are well known for their, er, intense pursuit of national success at the Olympics. What better way than to field two blokes but insist they’re women!

I mean, look at them.

On Twitter there were numerous people suggesting that they were possibly women who have taken massive doses of testosterone. Personally, I don’t think testosterone could ever give a natal woman such masculine faces.

They’re men.

twitter.com/savewomenssport/status/1167544600002748417?s=21

Toobad there will be some interesting squirming going on in camp USA as in all likelihood they're going to be fielding a teen 800/1500m runner whose PBs as a 15 year old boy was already faster than Kelly Holmes. I look forward to the contortions they will go through simultaneously arguing that their 4X400 team has been cheated but their own middle distance runner is brave and stunning.

As for the BBC commentary team, they'll get Linneker in and maybe give a temporary spot to the guy from the Independent (who thinks women are just lazy and should train harder - I believe he's moving to the Guardian soon which should suit him down to the ground).

Is it absolutely sure these are male?

So we really need to ask that question? My brain deduced which two in the photograph were male within milliseconds. I know a man when I see one.

As for the potential third male... well I wasn’t looking for a third man so I didn’t notice. Also, that one has long hair so at least they’re trying /s

The bloke with the long hair has the most noticeable cock (far right). Or maybe it's just the angle.

Long haired ... person also has prominent Adam's apple - as do 2 others.

FFS the silhouettes alone are obviously male, never mind other clearly visible primary and secondary sexual characteristics.

Interested to note that @Bespin read this thread and referred to it on another thread but hasn't commented on this one...

What's your view here then?!

The long haired person definitely sounds female on the video. Many women have a bulge when wearing tight shorts. It’s called the mons pubis and sexist and nasty publications make quite a big thing of pointing it out (the most recent one I saw was Vogue Williams who recently had a baby and most definitely doesn’t have a penis). As for the others, the one on the video sounds male and appears male but neither of them have what looks like a penis, so if they were born male, they are either tucking or have had surgery.

Having a higher voice is possible whilst still being male. To me, it seems like a male.

I do a lot of running, triathlon etc. Whenever you come up behind a person on a bike in a triathlon you can tell instantly if they are a man or a woman just by looking at the calves and the muscle definition. Look at the photo again and compare the muscle definition of the quads and calves of the person on the left and the three others.

There are fewer bulges in this photo.

3 of them are blokes. The one with the long hair has taken female hormones, that's the difference.

Orchid how do you know that? Watch the video. She’s doing a hell of a job with her voice if she is. Estrogen doesn’t raise your voice like that. I think a balance needs to be struck between calling out blatant cheating and unfairly scrutinising female bodies that look a bit masculine.

Pota the mons pubis might protrude but it doesn't hang down.

Doyoumind that could be the material of the shorts to be fair. Fine, I suggest they are all subjected to a medical examination before the Olympics and that all female athletes are required to undergo one.

This would all be avoided if there were strict rules in the first place because then nobody would even think to enter a man (although obviously they would try doping etc)

There are fewer bulges in that photo because it is taken from the front, that's all.

And yet we can still tell that 3 of them have penises.

Because we are not insane.

Its very striking how different the pants/ shorts of the woman on the left are.

That's because the team had a fire in the hotel beforehand, Tinsel.

All the women's shorts were destroyed apart from one pair which miraculously survived the blaze. The team coach had to go to Decathlon at the last minute in order to buy some red women's shorts. And they were only £5.99 so obviously they don't fit as well as the standard women's shorts. The coach also had to buy some dark underpants for the other 3 runners precisely because the new shorts didn't fit as well.

The coach only had £30 on him, so couldn't stretch to buying underpants for the fourth runner.

Alternatively, one can believe one's own eyes.

I suggest they are all subjected to a medical examination

A cheek swab would be pretty non-invasive

Even better if it’s non invasive. That way, they can get some international doctor to swab the athletes under suspicion and then release the results. If I was a biological woman and people thought I was a man, I would welcome this because I would want to prove them wrong.

Most of the sporting organisations have a rule that a man can compete as a woman if he declares that he has a 'female gender identity' and his testosterone is below 10nmol/l. This level is at the lower end of the normal male range and about 4 times the higher end of the normal female range.

What is the maximum level of testosterone allowed in female competitors? I haven't been able to find this anywhere, but I assume it would be somewhere around 3 nmol/l, since any higher and it would be assumed that the woman was doping.

There are fewer bulges in this phot

Same number of men though.

Fuck, the indignity of staring at these athletes and wondering whether to believe my own eyes or have a cautious approach in case we're being trolled.

It's undignified for the athletes and for all of us. The dignity of your own biological reality and living your own way, while acknowledging that the biology does exist.

Call me cynical Temporary but I don't think this has much to do with gender identity and them living their own way. It's about winning and that's why the current rules are so dangerous. We have tighter and tighter restrictions on doping and an easy way in for those lowering their testosterone levels.

I agree entirely. It just struck me as i was scrutinising the photo, how utterly nuts this situation is. But yes, I still dont want my middle ranking athlete son, good competitor that he is and loving his sport, to be told there's a way for him to be an Olympic standard runner. And i dont want his female squadmates to find he's suddenly beating them in the U17 girls' events.

The insanity of 2019.

Discussing whether it is 3 males in a women's relay race.

Or just the 2.

Amazing, isn't it?
And the 'expert' who conducted the so-called study that started it all is a man who believes that crying at Disney films is evidence of his womanhood.

Still, look on the bright side. It means someone might finally break Koch's 400m record from 1985... the one that no-one's been able to get close to since anti-doping procedures tightened up. Of course, that person might have a bit more than average down their shorts, but we could all promise not to look too closely if they promised to wear baggy shorts.