The World Athletics Federation (WAF) announced an unprecedented measure that will take effect starting September 1, ahead of the Tokyo World Championships. All athletes who wish to compete in the women's category will be required to undergo blood or cheek swab tests to confirm their biological sex.
The test (known as the SRY test) will be supervised by member federations and will be conducted only once in the athlete's lifetime. If the result doesn't detect the Y chromosome, they will be allowed to participate in the women's division of any international competition. If the result is positive for the Y chromosome, they will only be able to compete in mixed or non-women's categories, except in local or national qualifying tournaments.
The decision is part of an effort to protect fairness in women's sports and put an end to controversies surrounding the inclusion of transgender athletes, which sparked debate at the last Olympic Games.
WAF president Sebastian Coe justified the resolution with a strong message: "The philosophy is to protect and promote the integrity of women's sports. It's truly important in a sport that is constantly trying to attract more women to believe that there is no biological glass ceiling".
