Recently, World Athletics has announced that it has agreed to use cheek swabs and dry blood tests to determine whether athletes are biologically female, aiming to "uphold the fairness of the women's categories in sports competitions."

 

The gender controversy during the 2024 Paris Olympics has drawn more attention to this already sensitive topic and has accelerated discussions on how to formulate gender participation rules in various fields of sports. This issue became a core topic in the election of the President of the International Olympic Committee (IOC). Last week, Kirsty Coventry from Zimbabwe was elected to this position, and the candidates were repeatedly asked about their approaches to the issue of transgender athletes during the election process.

Sebastian Coe, the President of the World Athletics, who ranked third in the IOC President election, has the firmest stance on this issue. He emphasized that transgender athletes may pose a threat to "high-level" competitive sports and stressed that biology and science should serve as the foundation for formulating relevant future rules.

Now, the athletics governing body led by this 68-year-old British Olympian has become the first sports organization in the world to require elite female athletes to undergo DNA testing. At a press conference after the conclusion of the 2025 World Athletics Indoor Championships held in Nanjing, China, Coe said, "We will unremittingly protect the women's categories and take all necessary measures to achieve this goal, not just pay lip service." He also mentioned, "This is very important because it can safeguard what we have always advocated. Especially recently, we are not just talking about the fairness of women's sports competitions but also ensuring it in practice. We believe that this approach can greatly enhance people's confidence and keep everyone's attention focused on the fairness of the competitions."

At present, the specific implementation time of these new measures has not been determined, but it is expected to be in place before the 2025 World Athletics Championships, which will be held in Tokyo, Japan, from September 13 to 21 this year.

Coe emphasized that the new testing methods, whether the one-time cheek swab test or the dry blood test, will not cause invasive harm to the human body and will be carried out in strict accordance with "international medical standards."

It is understood that this decision is based on the results of a new study, which shows that males already have physiological advantages in athletic performance before puberty. World Athletics took this measure after widely soliciting opinions on this plan.

The President of World Athletics said, "We must face the reality. If I'm not prepared to confront the challenges, I won't choose this path to protect the women's categories in sports competitions. We have already filed a lawsuit with the Court of Arbitration for Sport regarding the rules on Differences of Sex Development (DSD), and these rules have been supported and have been maintained again after the appeal."