World Athletics to start testing if women are truly women

World Athletics has given the go-ahead for the introduction of a test to determine if an athlete is biologically a woman. This comes after increasing consternation in recent years that certain athletes may have a biological advantage causing unfair competition.

Those who wish to participate in official women's competitions will henceforth need to meet the "pre-clearance requirement" once in their career.

Although no official timeline has been confirmed, the Press Association reports that World Athletics aims to implement it before the World Championships in Tokyo in September.

The move is one of the recommendations approved during the meeting of the World Athletics Council to tighten regulations regarding the eligibility of transgender and DSD athletes (different of sex development).

Protecting women's athletics

Baron Sebastian Coe, the president of the governing body, clarifies that this decision proves that World Athletics seeks to protect the female category "tenaciously".

"It's important to do this because it upholds everything we've talked about, particularly recently, not only regarding the integrity of female sports but actually ensuring it," he added.

"We believe this is a very important way to provide confidence and maintain that absolute focus on the competition's integrity."

(Raul Stiens - Source: World Athletics - Photo: ©Unsplash)