France calls Olympic gender test 'a step backwards', other countries approve
The International Olympic Committee's new policy on gender testing will bar transgender athletes from women's competition (Fabrice COFFRINI) France on Friday called the International Olympic Committee's new policy on gender testing to determine eligibility to compete in women's events a "step backwards", but other countries welcomed the move. France's Sports Minister Marina Ferrari said the test, which is banned under French law, "raises major concerns, as it specifically targets women by introducing a distinction that undermines the principle of equality". "France regrets this step backwards," Ferrari added, recalling that the IOC scrapped a similar test in 1999 "due to strong reservations from the scientific community regarding their usefulness".
The IOC announced on Thursday only "biological females" will be allowed to take part in women's events, preventing transgender women from competing. It is re-introducing gender testing from the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics onwards in a move which will also rule out many athletes with differences in sexual development (DSD), previously known as intersex athletes. The French minister said the new IOC policy "defines the female sex without taking into consideration the biological specificities of intersex people whose sexual characteristics present natural variations, which leads to a reductive and potentially stigmatising approach".
The IOC said there may be "rare exceptions" for DSD athletes who do not benefit from the performance-enhancing effects of testosterone. IOC President Kirsty Coventry said on Thursday that athletes from countries where the gender test was banned would have to be tested in other countries. "If it is illegal in a country, athletes will have the possibility when they travel to other competitions to be tested there," Coventry said.
"This is also why we're saying the policy comes into effect now, but will be implemented in LA 28. So we have time to walk through this process with everyone. " The sport of athletics introduced the gender test last year.
The president of France's athletics federation, Jean Gracia, told AFP: "The solution we have found, is that we benefit from all the occasions when athletes are outside France in order to do what is required. " - 'Greater clarity' - New Zealand's Olympic Committee said the IOC ruling would bring greater "clarity" to future Games. New Zealand fielded transgender weightlifter Laurel Hubbard in the women's competition at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021 in a controversial first.