At the Games, two formerly obscure boxers found themselves at the center of a global firestorm over whether genetic tests should bar them from the women’s division, even though the International Olympic Committee required a passport, not testing to participate. Olympic officials confirmed that the two athletes are not transgender, but sidestepped the question whether they have an XY disorder of sexual development, or XY DSD.
In 2019, the Court of Arbitration for Sport found a “striking overrepresentation” of athletes with XY DSD on the female podium, going back decades. XY DSDs are male conditions.
To solve the problem,World Athletics and World Aquatics, among others, have established detailed, science-backed rules for participation that rely on genetic and hormonal markers. The controversies of past Games didn’t affect track and field or swimming in Paris
To understand why this is the right approach, it’s important to go back to basics.
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