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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Sport
Sean Ingle

Decision time: why sport is struggling to deal with transgender row

Lia Thomas
The transgender swimmer Lia Thomas cannot take part in international female competition after Fina’s ruling. Photograph: Josh Reynolds/AP

Forget Centre Court, St Andrews or Wembley. The biggest battles in this summer of sport are being fought over in the boardrooms and backrooms, as federations wrestle with the thorniest question of all: should transgender women be allowed to participate in female sport?

For years most have regarded the issue as too dangerous to touch: the sporting equivalent of playing pass the parcel with a live grenade. Now, though, they have no choice. The emergence of elite trans women, such as the weightlifter Laurel Hubbard, the swimmer Lia Thomas and the cyclist Emily Bridges, has seen to that. Decisions are having to be made. Hard choices, too.

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