SA student wins race on the day World Athletics rules change

A transgender student won an SA schoolgirls’ athletics race, just hours after World Athletics announced transgender women will no longer be allowed to compete in female track and field events.

A transgender student who dominated an SA schoolgirls’ athletics race competed with the blessing of the community and under official Education Department guidelines.

The athlete won the race at an inter-school carnival yesterday, just hours after World Athletics president Sebastian Coe announced elite transgender women will no longer be allowed to compete in female track and field events.

Education Department chiefs said the student had permission to compete under its policy and it is understood fellow runners were told a transgender student would be competing.

A transgender student has won an athletics race under an official policy that allows pupils to compete in races which match the gender they identify as. Picture: istock

Other runners in the race were understood to be supportive of their fellow competitor’s inclusion.

The department’s chief executive, Martin Westwell, said the student raced with permission and community blessing.

The Advertiser has chosen not to identify the student or their school. The student’s race time was not a record for the event, which has been run over many decades.

Professor Westwell said every student should be encouraged and supported to participate in sport.

“Sport is incredibly important for a person’s physical and mental wellbeing,” he said.

“Gender diverse and intersex children and young people are supported by the Department for Education to participate in sport – as they should be.

“The participation of the student was in line with the department’s policies, which was last updated on 4 February 2022.”

He said as stated in the department’s policy, the Commonwealth Sex Discrimination Act and state equal opportunity laws ban an education authority’s prejudice on the basis of gender identity.

“Schools are education authorities within the meaning of these Acts,” he said.

The Education Department guidelines state: “The goal for gender diverse and intersex children and young people is full participation in all types of sport activity.”

The local race came as world athletics reacted to the ban on transgender women competing in World Athletics track and field events.

Coe said no female transgender athlete who had gone through male puberty would be permitted to compete in female world ranking competitions from March 31.

The ban would impact athletes with differences of sexual development, such as Caster Semenya who has male chromosomes but internal testes and was raised as a girl.

While Australian athletics officials said they would abide by the new world rules, they said it had its own community guidelines for trans and gender diverse athletes underpinned by principles of inclusion.