World Athletics makes new rules for transgender athletes and removes ban on Russia
World Athletics has new proposal for changes in their legislation on transgender and Russian athletes.
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Credits: Sports Illustrated
The governing body of track and field, World Athletics, has tightened its rules surrounding the participation of transgender athletes in female competition for sports. Furthermore, in their latest charged meeting on Thursday, the decision making body has also lifted the doping ban that was placed on Russia.
The approach for transgender athletes is much different in this case when compared to swimming. The main authorities of the sport are strictly against transgender athletes participating in elite swimming female competitions.
One of the famous transgender athletes, Lia Thomas, has been pretty much ostracized by the authorities and even the NCAA for being a transgender woman participating in elite swimming competitions. Several swimmers believe that her participation is ‘unfair’ for the sport, which was even vocally promoted by her Penn teammates as well.
The World Athletics has ruled that their ‘preferred option’ would be to tighten the rules surrounding the eligibility of transgender athletes. However, they also want to use limits on hormone levels and testosterone as a key determining factor.
The preferred option also stated that the new regulations would cover transgender athletes and those classified under the DSD (differences in sexual development) category. As per the new proposal, athletes in these categories must reduce their blood testosterone amount from the current maximum of 5 nanomoles per litre to below 2.5.
Furthermore, the athletes will have to maintain this testosterone standard for two years rather than the one which is currently in place. The proposal is being further discussed and further deliberated, of which the decisions will be published on Thursday.
World Athletics removes doping ban on Russia
The second proposal in the meeting of World Athletics discusses the issue concerning Russian athletes, especially with the 2024 Paris Olympics being a heated topic of discussion within the global community. Since 2015, the Russian Track and Field Federation has been banned on account of state-sponsored doping culture. This report was provided by the World Anti-Doping Agency which identified “deeply rooted culture of doping” in Russian athletics.
Following this ban, Russia was effectively banned from hosting World Athletics events or sending athletes to international championships. Furthermore, Russian athletes were also banned from the Olympics in 2019 on the same charges.
The lifting of the ban on doping charges in Russia would practically be nullified, given the current sanctions following the Russia-Ukraine war. All Russian and Belarusian athletes have been barred from any sporting competition since February 2022 for an unforeseeable future.
Russian athletes, however, are putting their case to participate under a neutral banner in the upcoming athletes. Most countries, including Ukraine and France, are against this proposition and are vehemently pursuing a stringent boycott of Russia from the Olympics. However, the United States Olympic Association is open to reviewing the case and gaining a clearer concept of neutrality from the IOC.
In case you missed it:
USPOC seeks clarity from Russian athletes over “neutrality” for participating in Paris Olympics 2024
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Siddid Dey Purkayastha
(528 Articles Published)