What Is Sex Verification In Olympics

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Sex verification in women’s athletic events has been heavily criticized by many since the beginning of Olympic competitions. In April 2011, new policies to regulate who could and could compete as women in the Olympics were enacted before the 2012 Olympics in London. These policies focus on female athletes, often intersex women, with naturally elevated androgen levels, a phenomenon known as hyperandrogenism. Since doping with testosterone is known to increase athletic performance, the policies aim to ensure that these athletes do not hold an unfair advantage over other female competitors due to their endogenous testosterone (IOC 1). Though an improvement in comparison to past sex-based testing, such as the Y-chromosome test from the 1986 Olympics …show more content…
In order to be more equitable and scientifically reliable, it is imperative that the policies be improved. The new Olympic policies were drafted as a result of the famous Caster Semenya case. A South African runner, Semenya competed in the 2009 Olympics in Berlin. Her incredible athletic performance and powerful physique caused the IOC to question her eligibility to compete as a woman. The issue was handled inappropriately as the IOC’s old policies humiliated the scrutinized athlete (Macur 1). However, since concerns of an unfair playing field were valid, the IOC mandated new policies, which include a number of rules and regulations based on the assumption that hyperandrogenism in women poses an athletic advantage. The policies state that if a female athlete’s testosterone levels reach a certain threshold value of 10 nmol/L to fall within the male range, she will not be allowed to compete with the other female challengers (IOC 2). To fully understand the rationale behind the 2012 IOC regulations, it is …show more content…
These elevated levels of testosterone can often be found in intersex individuals with a DSD (Disorder of Sex Development). For instance, hyperandrogenism is quite common in females with Congenital Adrenal Hyperplasia (CAH) who are virilized due to an accumulation of androgens (Vilain Intersex lecture). In the past, intersex athletes have been categorized as either male or female on the basis of their biological sex, or declared gender (Vilain Sex and Sports lecture). However, since 2012 the IOC Board has been particularly concerned with female athletes who have the hyperandrogenism symptoms of elevated androgen production and supposedly “masculine” traits. Though the concern of an unfair biological advantage may seem reasonable, the 2012 IOC regulations that aim to halt this potential advantage might also be considered unfair and discriminatory towards women (R. Jordan-Young, K. Karkazis, Superwoman complex 2). When some men are more naturally talented than others, they are admired, celebrated, and consistently allowed to compete. Professor Vilain, an expert on the issue of sex in sports, sarcastically asks, “Is LeBron James too tall and too fast to play basketball?” (Vilain 1). For many years now, certain male athletes have broken records and exhibited extraordinary athletic performances, yet their advantage among other men has never been

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