The Olympics Just Became Much Friendlier For Transgender Athletes

BY LINDSAY GIBBS JAN 22, 2016 1:41 PM

Transgender athletes will no longer be required to undergo gender reassignment surgery in order to participate in the Olympics, according to documents obtained by Outsports on Thursday.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) reportedly updated its transgender guidelines at an unpublicized “Consensus Meeting on Sex Reassignment and Hyperandrogenism” last November, and the guidelines are expected to be adopted before the Summer Olympics in Rio later this year.

“To require surgical anatomical changes as a pre-condition to participation is not necessary to preserve fair competition and may be inconsistent with developing legislation and notions of human rights,” the new guidelines state. “It is necessary to ensure insofar as possible that trans athletes are not excluded from the opportunity to participate in sporting competition.”

Read more: http://thinkprogress.org/sports/2016/01/22/3742064/trans-rights-olympics/

-- ThinkProgress 2016-01-22

That'll be nice then

Why the big push on transgender people? Seem to be all over the media these days, really who cares?

That's going to be interesting, trans women with male genitals and flat breasts using the women's showers and trans men with female genitals and mammaries using the men's showers. The ideal solution, I think, would be to make all toilet and shower facilities unisex. No segregation on the basis of gender.

That's going to be interesting, trans women with male genitals and flat breasts using the women's showers and trans men with female genitals and mammaries using the men's showers. The ideal solution, I think, would be to make all toilet and shower facilities unisex. No segregation on the basis of gender.

Lol, we will really have unisex toilets and showers in a few years.

The basic question, in my opinion, is whether transgender athletes get an unfair advantage.

Let's look at a transgender female athlete, ie an athlete transitioning from man to woman.

In 2011 and 2012, the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) and the International Olympic Committee (IOC) implemented new rules barring a female from competing in the women’s category if her blood testosterone level is above 10 nanomoles of testosterone per liter (nmol/L).

That’s the bottom end of what’s considered a normal range for men. Women usually have less than three nmol/L, according to Dr. Peter Sonksen of Kings College London. Men tend to have 10 to 30 nmol/L.

Source: http://www.medicaldaily.com/should-female-testosterone-levels-determine-eligibility-womens-sports-319998

The news article cited in the OP says that trans women must "maintain regulated testosterone levels for the remainder of their Olympic eligibility." It does not say what the maximum allowed testosterone level is, but from the above quote from medicaldaily.com it would appear to be 10 nmol/L. While "experts disagree about whether testosterone actually enhances athletic performance" (http://www.medicaldaily.com/should-female-testosterone-levels-determine-eligibility-womens-sports-319998) it nevertheless raises the question whether natural born female athletes, whose testosterone level is usually below 3 nmol/L, are allowed to take hormones to increase their testosterone levels up to the level of 10 nmol/L without running afoul of anti-doping rules. The Prohibited List for the 2016 Olympics suggests that it is not not allowed.

What about a transgender male athlete, ie an athlete transitioning from woman to man? Must he have a minimum testosterone level to compete in the Olympics? I can find nothing on the web to indicate that this is the case.

Why the big push on transgender people? Seem to be all over the media these days, really who cares?

I guess they care and people who support civil rights for minorities care. But you're right, the topic has been in the news quite a lot in the last few years.

An article in the New York Times confirms that a transgender female athlete must have a testosterone level below 10 nmol/L

Under the new rules, a man transitioning to a woman must undergo hormone therapy and demonstrate that the total level of male testosterone in the athlete’s blood has been below 10 nanomols per liter for at least a year prior to competing.

Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/26/sports/olympics/transgender-athletes-olympics-ioc.html?_r=0