World Athletics Moves to Cheek Swabs to Determine Female Eligibility

Athletics around the world is preparing to hold cheek swab tests for elite athletes who want to compete in the female category to ensure that they are women rather than trans athletes and are women.

The move comes after the organization banned trans athletes from playing as women in March 2023.

Sebastian Cora, head of World Athletics at the time, said: As more evidence becomes available, we review our position, but we believe that the integrity of the women's categories in athletics is paramount. ”

However, since then, athletics around the world has stated that there is “new evidence that there is already an athletic significant performance gap before the onset of adolescence.” Guardian.

“The childhood or pre-paralytic performance gap in athletic sports is 3-5%, especially in running events, and is high in throwing and jumping events. New evidence relates to female body structure and physiology. “We have established that lack of exercise contributes to performance gaps,” the organization added.

Coe argued that the latest changes are “to ensure that our guidelines respond to the latest information available to maintain a fair and level playing field in the women's category.” . He states: “Maintaining the integrity of competition in the women's category is a fundamental principle of athletics sports and we look forward to this co-consulting process with key stakeholders in this field.”