Transgender athletes will not be able to compete in international competitions for women

World Athletics, the international athletics federation, agreed on Thursday transgender athletes will not be able to compete in the women’s category at international competitions.

The president of the organization, Sebastian Coe, said this Thursday that as of March 31, no transgender athlete who has gone through male puberty will be allowed to participate in competitions that are scored for the world ranking list.

He also added that a task force will be established to further investigate eligibility guidelines for transgender people. “We’re not going to say no forever,” Coe said. The president of World Athletics added that the decision was “guided by the general principle of protecting the women’s category.”

One of the most controversial cases in recent years was that of South African athlete Caster Semenya. The council left 2.5 nanomoles per liter (half) of the maximum allowable amount of testosterone in plasma for athletes with sexual development differences (DSD). Additionally, no transgender athlete who has gone through male puberty will be allowed to compete in women’s competition after March 31.

Punishment for Russian athletes

The World Athletics Council, the international athletics federation, agreed on Thursday to maintain sanctions barring Russian and Belarusian athletes from international competition over the invasion of Ukraine. “The World Athletics Council has reaffirmed the decision it originally took in March 2022 to exclude Russian and Belarusian athletes, as well as support staff and officials from member federations and officials who are nationals of those two countries, from all World Athletics events in the immediate future “, He said. In this way, neither Russia nor Belarus “will be able to host or organize”, as the World Athlete explained, “any athletic event of a European or international nature”.

Likewise, representatives of Russia and Belarus “shall not have the right to attend, speak and/or vote at meetings of the World Athletics Congresses” and may not participate in “any developmental or professional program” of the International Federation. .