World Athletics plans tougher rules for transgender and DSD athletes World Athletics is poised to introduce tougher rules for transgender and difference of sex development (DSD) athletes, including a cheek swab test for all elite athletes who want to compete in the female category.
World Athletics, however, now proposes that there should be the same rules for DSD and transgender athletes as “new evidence has also clarified that testosterone suppression in 46XY DSD and 46XY transgender individuals can only ever partly mitigate the overall male advantage in the sport of athletics”.
Under World Athletics’ existing rules, introduced in March 2023, anyone who has undergone male puberty is barred from the female category – after research reported that transgender women retained an advantage in strength, endurance, power and lung capacity, even after taking medication to suppress their testosterone.
Most significantly, World Athletics wants to adopt what it calls a “pre-clearance requirement for all elite athletes competing in the female category” – which, in essence, is a one-time non-invasive cheek swab test.
“The required test will be for the SRY gene and, if required, testosterone levels, either via cheek swab with any necessary follow-up or via dry blood spot analysis,” World Athletics says in its consultation document.
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