WORLD EXPERTS SUPPORTING IAAF’S ELIGIBILITY REGULATIONS FOR ATHLETES WITH DSD AT THE COURT OF ARBITRATION FOR SPORT THIS WEEK
The IAAF believes that equal treatment of men and women is not just a formal requirement of its Constitution but that empowering girls and women through athletics is a core value of the organisation, at the heart of what it believes the sport can offer to participants and to the world. The IAAF is committed to doing everything in its power to realise that value, for the benefit of the sport and of society in general.
The female category in sport is a protected category. For it to serve its purposes, which include providing females opportunities equal to males, it must have eligibility standards that ensure that athletes who identify as female but have testes, and testosterone levels in the male range, at least drop their testosterone levels into the female range in order to compete at the elite level in the female classification. This standard is necessary to ensure fair competition for all women.
Indeed, without it, we risk losing the next generation of female athletes, since they will see no path to success in our sport. The IAAF is confident that the scientific basis by which it has defined the limits of the category – limits which will apply equally to all competitors – will stand up to challenge in the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS). The team of experts providing evidence at CAS this week in support of the IAAF regulations includes the following, with links to published papers on articles on their areas of expertise.
Dr Angelica Lindén Hirschberg is Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the Department of Women´s and Children´s Health, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, with special focus on Reproductive Endocrinology. Her research is focused on disorders of reproductive dysfunction and gonadal development in women. The overall aim is to improve diagnostics, fertility and long-term health in women with strenuous exercise, obesity, polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), primary ovarian insufficiency (POI) and disorders of sex development (DSD). The research is translational from experimental in vitro studies of endometrial function to randomized controlled trials and population-based epidemiological studies performed in collaboration with national and international research networks. Dr Hirschberg’s paper on Serum androgen profile and physical performance in women Olympic athletes published in British Medical Journal in 2017 can be found here:
David Handelsman is Professor of Reproductive Endocrinology and Andrology, University of Sydney, inaugural Director of the ANZAC Research Institute and head of Andrology Department, Concord Hospital, Sydney, Australia. His expertise in reproductive endocrinology and andrology involves basic, clinical and public health research with a focus on the physiology, pharmacology and toxicology of androgens. His research has focused on steroid mass spectrometry, anti-doping science, clinical pharmacology of androgens and their misuse and abuse. David’s comprehensive paper on Circulating Testosterone as the Hormonal Basis of Sex Differences in Athletic Performance published last year in Endocrine Reviews can be found here: