World Triathlon will still allow transgender women in the female category

[MrsJamin]

World Triathlon has voted to allow "transgender women" to keep competing in the female category. Trans-identified males will have to lower their testosterone levels for two years rather than one, as is the case now. They must also now wait for at least four years after transitioning if they have previously competed as a male in any sporting competition rather than one. Full story in TheGuardian

Not good enough, World Triathlon! Read the room!😡

So angry at this. Males should not be in female sport.

This is at odds with the British Triathlon policy recently published.

Utterly disgraceful

That article doesn't define what 'transitioning' means in practice. At what point is someone deemed to have transitioned, given that humans can't change sex and many transwomen don't even take hormones?

and at least it's at 2.5 noml/L, which is towards the lower end of the considerable daylight between male and female T ranges.

much better than the recently used 5 nmol/L [slap in the middle of the daylight between male and female ranges] and vastly better than the stupid old 10 nmol/L [decidedly within the male range, albeit towards the lower end] at which Laurel Hubbard smashed age group lifting world records.

Hormones do not change all the male advantages,both physical and social. Bad move.

Madness!

I believe that they are putting a great deal of focus on the lowered testosterone being a deterrent.

This focus really just reinforces the fact that they seem to believe that women are just testosterone hobbled males.

I expect that these testosterone levels will be shown to not have the effect that these sporting bodies think they will and the organisations will eventually have to concede that no males can be included in female sports categories if fairness is even one of the objectives of their sport.

We will win in the end. The evidence is against them and frankly they look silly doing it.

Nobody will be happy with this.
They think this is a compromise - it isn't. Either fairness or inclusion of men. You can't have both.
Athlete representatives on the board voted no.
No consultation or polling of female athletes.
Ridiculous. Cowardly. Unscientific.

Among the groups consulted in the last month by World Triathlon are sport scientists including Emma Hilton, Yannis Pitsidalis and Ross Tucker; University experts including Dr. Roger Pielke Jr, Dr. Alun Willims and Dr. Ada Cheung; IOC Human Rights expert Madeleine Pape; IOC advisor Daniel Berezowsky, and transgender athletes including Joanna Harper, Chris Mosier, Rachel McBride, Verity Smith, Patty Actually, Annie Lieberman and Veronica Ivy.

From the World Triathlon website. So it’s clear then. They ignored the scientists, and went with the the activists like Ada Cheung and trans athletes, and also Veronica Ivy.

What age do boys start having an advantage over girls in athletics? Isn’t it while they’re still at primary school?

I notice that David Handelsman was not included in the panel that would have been the counter to Ada Cheung.

And how exactly was this then balanced?

Joanna Harper,
Chris Mosier,
Rachel McBride (non-binary),
Verity Smith,
Patty Actually (?)
Annie Lieberman (non-binary)
and Veronica Ivy

Who was the female sportspeople? Were they not listed because of the hate that would be coming their way?

Or is this yet another unbalanced panel that created 'be kind' policy?

Interesting Ada Cheung is going to do her own research into sports.

Let's see who will be involved in that project.... anyone wanting to get their guesses down now?

I reckon I have three Australian males that will be directly involved, if not a study participant, then as in some kind of capacity.

Oh... and Blair Hamilton is asking for people between 18 - 35 in Brighton to sign up for a 'gender' sport study too.

But what of the spots lost by biological women? Never mind testosterone. Women who can't identify into another group.

Haven't they listened to World Athletics recently? I thought there was some headway on this.

Why were trans athletes included and not female athletes? This decision was biased from the outset, the only people disadvantaged by the inclusion of trans athletes weren't even part of the decision making process.

It's a cowardly move and really disappointing but I think it could put many men off attempting to compete in the women's category. Maintaining a 2.5 nmol/l testosterone level can't be healthy for males longterm (I'm assuming they will have to do regular tests to show that their levels don't creep up between competitions). And the four year rule will prevent them from competing in the men's and just hopping across to the women's a couple of months later like Bridges recently did.

Yes I thought that, it's really just kicking the can down the road and trying to keep as many males as possible. It sends a poor message though, it's cowardly.

*Keep out

Good decision - still a very long wait time of 4 years, but that may be less relevant in triathlon than other sports.

Also of course, T levels are not that informative without knowing the T sensitivity of the individual athlete, but at least it's not a "trans-panic" blanket ban. A good step.

but at least it's not a "trans-panic" blanket ban

It's only male trans people who would be banned so hardly a "trans-panic" blanket ban. More of a "man-panic" blanket ban.

It’s kicking the can down the road, but at least that 4 year ban on competing could be a deterrent.

It's a terrible decision. Current testosterone levels are irrelevant. The issue is the huge male pubertal advantage from previous bursts of testosterone, initially in utero, then in early years and finally the flood of hormones at puberty, which all create a larger, more powerful and more robust engine for men. The science is clear, even from the studies done by TW Joanna Harper. Male athletic performance advantage is retained even after years of testosterone suppression or taking cross-sex hormones. Puberty cannot be undone.
The athletes, who are directly affected by this, said NO. World Triathlon should have listened to them.

On the other hand, if you've never competed in triathlon before, you effectively evade that requirement.