Track and field to be first Olympic event to require DNA tests to prove sex

Following a decision by World Athletics, track and field will soon be the first Olympic sport to require women’s competitors to undergo DNA testing to prove their biological sex.

The track and field’s governing body, according to Sebastian Coe, president of World Athletics, has agreed to start the testing in order to maintain the “absolute focus on the integrity of competition.”

After a two-day meeting of the governing body’s council in Nanjing, China, Coe said to reporters on Tuesday that it is crucial because it maintains everything that we’ve been talking about, especially recently, about actually ensuring the integrity of female women’s sports.

“And we believe that this is a really significant way to give people confidence and keep their unwavering commitment to competition integrity,” the statement continues.

Coe, a former middle-distance runner who won the Olympic medals, claimed the body had made the decision after a “complete review” and consultations with more than 70 organizations involved in sports and advocacy.

The consensus that this is the best course of action has been restored, Coe said, “overwhelmingly.”

Competents would be subject to non-invasive cheek swabs and dry blood-spot tests, according to Coe, who earlier this month launched an unsuccessful bid to lead the International Olympic Committee.

He declared, “We will do everything we can to protect the female category, and we will do it without skipping a beat.”

The decision is the most recent development in the contentious debate surrounding transgender and gender non-conforming athletes’ participation in women’s sports.

In 2023, World Athletics banned transgender women who had passed male puberty until the eligibility criteria were reviewed.

The decision overturned earlier regulations that only allowed transgender women to compete in the first year if they had maintained a blood testosterone level of no higher than 5 nmol/L.

Although the testing requirements for World Athletics are generally intended for athletes who have changed their gender, only a small percentage of those who were born with atypical sex chromosomes would be affected by World Athletics’ testing requirements.

The decision by World Athletics follows similar actions by other significant sporting organizations, including the National Collegiate Athletic Association and World Aquatics, the nation’s principal governing body for college sports.

Transgender athletes have been permitted to compete since 2004 thanks to the International Olympic Committee, which will oversee the running of the 2028 Games in Los Angeles. However, individual sporting bodies ultimately follow the eligibility guidelines.

Beyond the sport’s world, the problem has grown increasingly significant as a result of global cultural wars in the US and other Western nations.

US President Donald Trump signed an executive order last month to block funding for educational institutions that allow transgender athletes and women to use female changing rooms.