Lord Sebastian Coe has said that “gender cannot trump biology” when deciding whether transgender athletes should compete against females.
The president of World Athletics has reacted to the controversy surrounding Lia Thomas, who last week became the first known transgender athlete to win an NCAA swimming title in the United States. However, after her with victory in the women’s 500-yard freestyle, Thomas received a hostile reception from the crowd.
Initially, it was reported she had been snubbed by fellow competitors, with the second, third, and fourth placed swimmers standing separate from her in the presentations. However, Erica Sullivan has since taken to Instagram to clarify the trio simply requested a photo to mark being reunited after competing together at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
"Being subjected to false claims on Right Wing media due to this photo with my close Tokyo homies isn’t something that happens every day," she wrote. "Since the photo is still going around I thought it would be easier to post the photo that was intended along with another photo of me shaking Lia’s hand after her AMAZING 500free.
"Truly couldn’t have gone through this chaos with out my amazing team who stood up for me when I felt like I was being misrepresented, and working as hard as they do to motivate me to do my best for Texas. Also a thank you to my amazing girlfriend who edited my piece with Newsweek supporting Lia. Would not have been able to sound as eloquent or powerful without her amazing mind and voice."
Thomas has been praised in some quarters for her courage in competing as a transgender athlete, but prior to the event, her own team-mates argued she shouldn't have been selected. And now Coe, head of his sport’s federation since 2015, has labelled the issue 'fragile'.
Speaking at the World Indoor Athletics Championships in Belgrade, he told The Times : “The integrity of women’s sport, if we don’t get this right, and, actually, the future of women’s sport, is very fragile,” he said. “These are sensitive issues, they are societal issues, they go way, way beyond sport. I don’t have the luxury to get into endless discussions or the school of moral philosophy.”
Athletics already have a questionable history in its approach to female athletes with elevated levels of testosterone. In 2019, South African middle-distance runner Caster Semenya was ordered to take medication to suppress her own natural levels, having been forced to undergo sex testing a decade beforehand.
According to World Athletics rules, female athletes must show that their testosterone levels are below 5nmol/L3 for a duration of six months before competing, while trans women must show they are below this level for 12 months. Coe, however, has indicated this timespan could increase.
“We are asking for a greater length of period before competition because the residual impact of transitioning like that is more profound,” Coe said. “There is no question to me that testosterone is the key determinant in performance.”
He added that sentiment couldn't dictate whether or not a transgender athlete competed in athletics events. “It’s really difficult to keep the emotion out of this and subjectivity, so we do have to really stick as closely as we can to the science — and that’s what we’ve always tried to do when it’s been uncomfortable.," he said.
In October, transgender weightlifter Laurel Hubbard was named New Zealand sportswoman of the year by the University of Otago. Hubbard made history by securing the prize, becoming the first transgender athlete to win the award in its 113-year history.
