World Athletics has embarked on a process of consultation with its member federations on the subject, with a "priority option": "to modify the eligibility requirements for DSD (difference in sexual development) and transgender athletes by asking for a continued reduction testosterone levels below 2.5 nmol/L for at least 24 months".

“Putting forward a priority option is a means of obtaining a constructive discussion, this does not mean that this option will be the one presented to the Council and therefore adopted”, in March, wishes to specify the International Federation.

The current rules require transgender athletes wishing to participate in the female category to maintain their testosterone levels below the threshold of 5 nmol/L for 12 months.

Intersex athletes, for example the emblematic South African Caster Semenya, must since April 2018 maintain their testosterone levels below the threshold of 5 nmol / L for 6 months to participate in events ranging from 400 m to the mile (1.609 m).

This regulation had been denounced by Semenya, double Olympic champion in the 800 m, who refuses to comply with hormone treatment or an operation, but who had lost the appeals brought in particular before the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) had asked sports federations in November 2021 to establish their own criteria to allow transgender and intersex people to compete at high level.

Since then, the International Cycling Union (UCI) has adopted regulations equivalent to those of the current "priority option" in athletics.

The international swimming federation (Fina) limited access to its female categories in June 2022 to swimmers “who became women before puberty”.

South African Caster Semenya after the women's 5000 heats at the 2022 World Athletics Championships in Eugene, Oregon on July 20, 2022 © EZRA SHAW / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/AFP/Archives

World Athletics president Sebastian Coe welcomed Fina's decision at the time, saying that if forced to choose between "fairness" and "inclusion", he would "always be on the side of fairness", to "to protect the integrity of women's sport".

© 2023 AFP