‘Cowardly’: Olympics bosses slammed over call on transgender athletes

The International Olympic Committee has come under fire for “passing the buck” when it comes to deciding the fate of trans athletes.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) said it will not set competition criteria for intersex and transgender people and has passed the subject on to individual sports’ governing federations.

The IOC has struggled to establish a uniform position after a two-year consultation with over 250 participants, which included the publication of a framework on the issue.

“The IOC seeks to promote a safe and welcoming environment for everyone involved in elite-level competition,” it said.

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“It must be within the remit of each sport and its governing body to determine how an athlete may be at a disproportionate advantage compared with their peers.”

The IOC said most high-level competitions are staged with men’s and women’s categories.

It added it wanted these categories to be fair and safe, and that athletes would not be excluded solely on the basis of their transgender identity or sex variations.

The framework was developed following an extensive consultation with athletes and stakeholders.

The decision didn’t go down well with everyone, as some accused the IOC of passing the buck on the issue of transgender athletes. Katherine Deves, a lawyer who founded the Save Women’s Sports Australasia group, accused the IOC of “muddled logic” and a “disgraceful abnegation of leadership and responsibility”.

“Three years of consulting, but it’s too hard and it’s evolving and it’s a process so let’s punt it to the IFs,” Deves tweeted.

“When they excluded us a century ago, women founded their own Olympics — including female only spectators — we need to do that again. IOC has betrayed us all, and smashed the dreams of young girls everywhere.

“What a muddle the IOC has gotten itself into! So passing buck to IFs.”

Brit Sharron Davies, who won a silver medal in the pool at the 1980 Olympics in Moscow, was another who blasted the IOC for “passing the buck”.

“After 2 decades of the IOC ignoring DDR situation & letting down female athletes we are here again with a cowardly passing of the buck!” she tweeted.

“How can testosterone be on the drug ban list but not an issue if born male in female sport? Men get fair sport women not.”

Laurel Hubbard became the first transgender Olympian in Tokyo this year. (Photo by Mohd Rasfan / AFP)

As quoted by The Guardian, visiting fellow for transgender athletic performance at Loughborough University, Joanna Harper, said placing the burden on individual international federations was a tough ask.

“It is important that the IOC has come out in favour of inclusion of trans and intersex athletes, but I think sections five and six of the framework are problematic,” she said.

“Transgender women are on average taller, bigger and stronger than cis women and these are advantages in many sports,”.

“It is also unreasonable to ask the sports federations to have robust and peer reviewed research before placing restrictions on trans athletes in elite sport. Such research will take years if not decades.”

With AFP