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Tiffany Abreu
must be called up by the Brazilian volleyball team after playing in half the world like Rodrigo -including Caravaca and Dos Hermanas in Spain- and debuting as a woman in the Superliga in her country.
New Zealand's
Laurel Habbard
, who participated in international competitions signing as Gavin, must maintain her position as the best woman in Oceania in the world weightlifting rankings.
And
Chelsea Wolfe
, third American in the BMX ranking after competing as a teenager
Ascent with the best in the country, she must upgrade to one of two available spots - all three are close, very close, to becoming the first transgender women at an Olympics.
If one of them - or two, or all three - finally qualifies, in Tokyo 2021 a sharp debate will open that goes beyond sports.
For five years, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) has indicated a single condition for trans women: that they take medication so that their testosterone is below the supposed female limit, 10 nanograms per milliliter of blood.
But you have already announced a review because nobody is convinced.
According to some scientists, lowering testosterone does not reduce the physical advantage that they have from adolescence.
According to some jurists, the obligation to take medication is discrimination rather than reportable.
"Testosterone can't be the only condition"
"Research is still needed on this issue. Several studies are underway right now, but those that have concluded point out that peak testosterone may not be the only condition. Trans women have benefited from extremely high testosterone exposure over the years. puberty, they have acquired muscle memory in their competitions as men, they have a different bone structure ... We need to identify new markers to arrive at rules that preserve equality in gender categories ", he analyzes
Maria Jose Martinez Patiño
, Doctor in Sports Sciences from the University of Vigo and, among other things, member of the Panel of Experts of the Medical and Scientific Commission of the IOC itself, which predicts: "I believe that the International Olympic Committee will change its mind after Tokyo and will take in finding a fair regulation. "And nobody in Spain can speak of justice like her.
In the 80s, to eliminate the humiliating visual test, athletics - leading sport in this matter - introduced the chromosome test and Patiño was one of its victims.
Whoever had the XY karyotype was banned and she, a prominent hurdler with the rare 46 XY karyotype and androgen insensitivity syndrome, could not compete for years.
Thanks to his training, he demonstrated the lack of rigor of the chromosome test and achieved the disappearance of the regulations.
What happened then?
Showed up
Caster Semenya
At the World Athletics Championships in Berlin in 2009, Semenya, only 18 years old, flew in the 800 meters and in the offices they put their hands to the head.
A woman with hyperandrogenism, that is, with abnormally high levels of testosterone, offered an image that did not conform to female canons, so sports legislators focused on stopping her.
Testosterone had to be limited and thus it became the new yardstick.
First the International Athletics Federation (World Athletics) and then the IOC wrote ad hoc rules against Semenya, but no one thought about transsexual women and their approach to high competition.
"Actually, transsexuality is not an issue that has yet been thoroughly addressed, there is still a long way to go," replies Patiño.
"They must be allowed to compete without conditions"
"We are facing the challenge of the sports legislation of the future. If the two categories, male and female, are maintained, it is very possible that civil rights and sports rules, which seek equality, will collide. And in my opinion, at that point , civil rights will prevail. That is, if a transsexual woman is recognized as a woman for all intents and purposes, she must be allowed to compete in the female category without conditions as is currently the maximum of testosterone. If a transsexual athlete is discriminated against of any way and takes his case to the ordinary courts, it is very likely that this will end up proving him right. At the moment, there is no jurisprudence beyond the Semenya case, but it is foreseeable that there will be, "
Jose Domingo Monforte
, lawyer specialized in Sports Law and founder of the law firm of the same name.
From his point of view, the challenge is "important" because of the implications it contains and because of the bodies that must agree. Because the IOC sets certain parameters, but it is the federations of each sport, of each country, that sign the rules. .
And some accept what the Olympic body recommends, but others go their own way.
For example, last October, the International Rugby Federation (World Rugby) banned transsexual women from competing because "it is known that biological men are stronger, more powerful, heavier and faster than biological women" and days later the Federation of England (England Rugby) assured that that veto would be skipped.
For example, the International Football Federation (FIFA) leaves the "verification of sexual identity" in the hands of each club unless there is "a well-founded doubt" that forces it to study the case in question, although it is open to review its regulations in the future. In Spain there is no legislation that limits or protects the participation of trans women in elite sport, although the cases are few.
The footballers
Alba Palacios placeholder image
or
Izaro Antxia
or the volleyball players
Omaira Perdomo
and
Antía Fernández
They participate or have participated in national competitions, but none of them have made the international leap and are far from opting to be Olympic.
This year the case of a transsexual girl banned - and later admitted - in the tests of the Catalan Swimming Federation raised a certain stir without generating the need for regulation.
"At the moment only temporary answers have been proposed to the question, but sooner rather than later a path will have to be established," concludes attorney Domingo Monforte.
And while that path is found or not, there will be three transsexual women seeking to make history this year. Tiffany Abreu will finish off every ball that flies over her, waiting for the call of her team as she has done since she made her debut in the women's Super League in 2017, a milestone that took her Even making the leap into politics. Laurel Habbard will lift 130 kilos in one stroke and 150 in two to secure his Olympic spot, a dream he harbored as a young man when he was New Zealand champion and junior record holder. And Chelsea Wolfe will complete tricks. and more tricks on his BMX to continue climbing in the world ranking in which he is already tenth, overtake one of the two compatriots who precede him and earn a place in the Villa.
The Tokyo 2021 Olympic Games await them and a long debate will open with them.
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