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World Athletics Bans Transgender Athletes From Competing In Female World Ranking Events

   DailyWire.com
GOLD COAST, AUSTRALIA - APRIL 09: Laurel Hubbard of New Zealand reacts as she drops the bar in the Women's +90kg Final during the Weightlifting on day five of the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games at Carrara Sports and Leisure Centre on April 9, 2018 on the Gold Coast, Australia.
Scott Barbour / Getty Images

The World Athletics Council announced on Thursday that it will not allow transgender athletes to compete against women in female World Rankings competitions.

The move, which goes into effect next week, will ban “male-to-female transgender athletes who have been through male puberty.”

“Decisions are always difficult when they involve conflicting needs and rights between different groups, but we continue to take the view that we must maintain fairness for female athletes above all other considerations,” said World Athletics President Sebastian Coe. “We will be guided in this by the science around physical performance and male advantage which will inevitably develop over the coming years. As more evidence becomes available, we will review our position, but we believe the integrity of the female category in athletics is paramount.”

The organization said that it consulted with Member Federations, the Global Athletics Coaches Academy and Athletes’ Commission, and the IOC when making its decision and that there was “little support within the sport for the option that was first presented to stakeholders, which required transgender athletes to maintain their testosterone levels below 2.5nmol/L for 24 months to be eligible to compete internationally in the female category.”

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World Athletics is the international governing body for sprints, middle/long, hurdles, road running, jumps, throws, combined events, race walks, relays, cross country, mountain running, ultra running, and trail running.

“There are currently no transgender athletes competing internationally in athletics and consequently no athletics-specific evidence of the impact these athletes would have on the fairness of female competition in athletics,” the organization said. “In these circumstances, the Council decided to prioritise fairness and the integrity of the female competition before inclusion.”

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