» Who Should Be Allowed to Compete as a Female Athlete?

New York Times
July 29, 2015

by Roger Pielke, Jr.

Should the size and shape of a woman’s breasts be considered factors in whether she is allowed to participate in elite athletic competitions like the Olympic Games? It sounds a bit ridiculous, but since 2011, breast size and shape have helped determine whether a woman may have testosterone levels deemed too high to be allowed to compete with other women.

That all changed on Monday when the Court of Arbitration for Sport, the Swiss-based organization that settles disputes within international sport, suspended the testosterone policy of the International Association of Athletics Federations, which oversees track and field. The ruling is the latest development in efforts by sports officials to figure out a scientifically valid and procedurally fair way to determine an athlete’s eligibility to compete as a man or a woman in elite sports.

After more than 50 years of missteps in trying to implement policies that were variously deeply flawed and well meaning, the sports community finally has a chance to get the male/female eligibility question right.

This week’s decision was in response to a complaint filed by Dutee Chand, a talented young Indian sprinter, who one year ago had been ruled ineligible to compete because of a reported level of natural testosterone that exceeded the 2011 regulations governing hyperandrogenism, a condition that can lead to high levels of that hormone.

Decision makers often look to science to provide clear-cut answers to difficult questions of policy. In this case, the question was, who is a female for purposes of elite athletic competition?

Unfortunately, science is pluralistic and the world is complicated. The court of arbitration found this out in a hurry. “The expert witnesses each relied on different published papers to support his or her view” and “no single study has established, to an appropriate level of certainty, a scientific basis to come to a definitive conclusion one way or the other,” the court said.

Yet, the court agreed that testosterone could, potentially, be used for purposes of eligibility. The problem of course is that many other physical characteristics could also be used, like chromosomal makeup, the presence of reproductive organs or even height, but each of these markers is problematic. Read more …