Coe Applauds IOC's Gender Testing Decision

World Athletics President Sebastian Coe has lauded the International Olympic Committee's (IOC) decision to reintroduce sex testing for eligibility in women's categories, calling it a "very significant development for the Olympic Movement." This measure, announced in March, will bar transgender women from competing in female events.

Starting with the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games, women's competitions will be restricted to biological females, which also excludes athletes with differences in sex development. World Athletics had already announced in July the introduction of tests for the SRY (sex-determining region Y) gene.

"I didn't join World Athletics for a popularity contest; I joined to do what I believe is the right thing," Coe told Agence France-Presse in Gaborone, Botswana. "I'm delighted that the world is starting to see things our way, but I think it's a very significant development for the Olympic Movement, and I celebrate that."

However, the IOC's decision to reintroduce SRY gene testing was not met with universal approval. French Sports Minister Marina Ferrari deemed it "a step backward." Andrew Sinclair, the scientist who discovered the gene, also argued that defining biological sex solely based on chromosomes is "too simplistic."

The issue became a priority for the new IOC President, Kirsty Coventry, who succeeded Thomas Bach last year. The controversy intensified during the Paris 2024 Games, involving boxers Imane Khelif of Algeria and Lin Yu-ting of Taiwan. Both had been excluded from the 2023 World Championships by the International Boxing Association (IBA) for allegedly failing eligibility tests.

Nevertheless, the IOC allowed both to compete in Paris, asserting they were eligible under its rules and labeling the previous exclusion as a "sudden and arbitrary decision" by the IBA. Both athletes ultimately won gold medals, intensifying scrutiny over sex eligibility rules in Olympic sports.

The IOC has consistently maintained that it does not conduct sex tests, delegating that responsibility to international federations. This episode unfolded amidst strained relations between the IOC and the IBA, which remains suspended from Olympic governance.

Sebastian Coe praised Coventry's swift action to establish a unified policy. "I'm delighted that Kirsty, in her first few months as president, has gone to great lengths to protect the female category," said the 69-year-old Briton. "If we don't do that, we won't have women's sport, and Kirsty, more than anyone, is going to protect women's sport. So, at World Athletics, we are 100% aligned with that position, a position we adopted many years ago."

The IOC had previously used chromosomal sex testing to determine female eligibility between the 1968 Games and Atlanta in 1996. The practice was abandoned in 1999, following criticism from the scientific community and its own athletes' commission, who questioned its validity.