Statement on FINA and UCI policies for transgender competitors

The Consortium on Female Sport welcomes the transgender policy decision by FINA yesterday. The scientific evidence, public opinion and of course common sense all support this move. Male puberty confers a lifelong performance advantage in sport which can’t be reversed. That is why female swimmers have their own categories. Fairness for females in sport requires a category that’s only for those who have not benefited from male puberty. It really is obvious, and it shouldn’t take courage to say so. There should be a place in sport for everyone but that cannot be in the female category.

We call on UCI and all other sports federations to follow the lead FINA and World Rugby have given. The recent policy change of UCI, allowing male-born cyclists to compete in women’s events after two years of testosterone suppression, is nothing more than a fig leaf. It does not restore fairness for female cyclists. There is no science to support this policy. There’s more to male performance advantage than current testosterone levels. Lowering testosterone does not reverse male puberty. UCI leaders know this, as is clear from their statement on the policy in which they say: ‘It may not be necessary, or even possible, to eliminate all individual advantages held by a transgender.’

Growing up male gives transgender athletes a lifelong edge that simply cannot be fully negated by a period of testosterone suppression. The legacy effect of exposure to high levels of testosterone in early life and puberty is well known. The male performance advantage is not removed by identification, nor by any known form of medical transition. Academics on both sides of the debate about trans inclusion in women’s sport have published peer-reviewed papers showing that even after three years of testosterone suppression, a significant male advantage remains. This is not surprising, since the anatomical and physiological differences enacted by male puberty are not reversed by hormone treatment – factors such as the narrower male pelvis which powers a more efficient leg drive, the stiffer tendons which increase muscle efficiency, as well as many more familiar differences such as much greater muscle mass, larger lungs, less body fat, and so on. Only females face the problems of managing a menstrual cycle and its effect on performance and training.

FINA have done the right thing and brought back fairness for women and girls in competitive swimming, as World Rugby had already done. Now other international sports federations must follow FINA and World Rugby’s lead.