All participants in the World Athletics Championships Must Prove they are female with a cheek swab or blood test. The Dutch Athletes Understand The New Rule, Although They also Feel Uncomfortable. “It’s actual a form of discrimination.”
Lieke Klaver Says It With A Laugh. “I trust that I am a woman,” Says the 400-meter specialist. She also tries to see the humor in the mandatory test. “We bought those confetti cannons that are used at gender reveal parties. Maybe we’ll make a fun video with that.”
The Global Athletics Federation World Athletics Announced at the End of July That Athletes Who Want to Participate in Women’s Competitions Must Undergo A One-Time Sex-determining Region Y Gene Test. The Sry Gene is a part of the y chromosome and is response for the development of male sex characteristics.
The Rule Applies from September 1st. This mean that all participants in the world athletics championships in Tokyo, which start on Saturday, must be able to provide proof that they are (biological) women. Accordance to World Athletics Chairman Sebastian Coe, The Test is Necessary “to Protect Women’s Sports.”
At a press moment for the world championships, it appears that the Dutch athletes find it a diffress topic. “I don’t think you can just tell some that they are not a woman. If you feel like a woman, then you are a woman,” Says femke bol. “At the same time, it is also diffress to keep the sport as fair as possible. How can we deal with that well?”
Athletics has a long history with gender testing.
Gender tests in Athletics have a Long History. In 1966 and 1967, every female athlete had to undergo a visual inspection. “I was eighteen when I had pull down my pants for a competition so that a woman could see if i had a vagina,” Jamaican Former discus thrower Carol Martin Told the American Broadcaster NPR last year.
In The Netherlands, There is the Story of Foekje Dillema. The Competitor of Fanny Blankers-Koen was Among the First Group of Athletes in 1950 to have a gender test, by obtining a statement from a gynecologist. Dillema withdrew from the examination in The Hospital and Abruptly Stopped Athletics.
In 2008, an broadcast or other times sport showed that dillema was intersex. The Athlete had x and y chromosomes, with more x than y. the Frisian grew up as a woman, but accordance to current rules she would not have leg allowed to participate in the world athletics championships. Human Rights Watch Called the Principle of Gender Testing in Athletics in 2020 “Discriminatory by Definition.”
Pieke de Zwart also finds the new rules of world athletics “a form of discrimination”. “But you can also turn it around and say: in this case it is positive discrimination to protect the Women’s category,” Says the general director of the athletics union in conversation with nu.nl.
The black shows Understanding for the Choice of the Global Association to Let the Sporting Argument of Fair Play Outweigh The Universal Right to Equal Treatment. “It’s a difficult one,” he says. “But I would know of a better alternative. And this test is the least intensive burden for the athletes, because it is only a cheek swab or blood test.”
Jorinde van Klinken had already had a DNA test done once. Yet the Discus Thrower and Shot Putter was nervous on the day she had to do the gene test. “Because it feels like every thing Suddenly Comes to the Table,” She Says.
Van Klinken finds the principle of a gender test “very vulnerable”. “Because if the test is negative, you are no longer allowed to practice your sport and you will be known for the rest of your life as a woman with a y chromosome. But I also understand the choice again. Becoause from the doping test of this sport weedtostostostostostostostostostostostostostostostostialtostostostostostostostostostostostostostostostystostostostostostostostostostostostostostostostyste sport weedtostostostostostostostostostostostostostostostostostyste sportytostostostostostostostostostostostostostostostostyste sports of this sport weedostostostostostostostostostostostostostostostostostostystostostostostostostostostostostostostostostostyste sports of this sport weedtostostostostostostostostostostostostostostostostostostystostostostostostostostostostostostostostostostyste sportytostoste, Benefits. “
Van sound Therefore Mainly Criticizes The Late Introduction of the Rule, Only Six Week Before the Start of the World Championships. And She – Like Other Athletes – Worries Whether the System Is Watertight. Not World Athletics, But the National Associations Are Responsible for the Tests. That can encourage fraud.
“I have the feeling that you can forge Such proof QUITE EASILY,” Says Hurdler Nadine Visser. “I think it is naive to leave it to your own national association. There are all kinds of examples of doping scandals in which Doctors were part of the plot.”
In Addition, it is very Doubtful Whether All Test Results Will Actually Be Checked. For Privacy Reasons, the results may not simply be shared with athletics federation world athletics, which, accordance to the black, Will Therefore Conduct Spot Checks in Tokyo. Athletes must be able to show Their Proof. “That’s like only testing a third of the participants for doping,” Says van Klinken. “For me, that somewhat negates the purpose of this test.”
The World Athletics Championships Will Be Held from September 13 to 21 in Tokyo. The Netherlands is participating in Japan with a record number or 53 athletes.