World Athletics approved the cheek swab tests on Tuesday to verify if an athlete is female when Sebastian Coe, the president of the organization, promised to protect women’s sports.
COE said testing prior clarity will be for athletes who want to compete in the female category. He called the process “very straightforward” and a question that was “important” to him. He added that the tests are not invasive and were ready for any criticism that could come his way.
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Sebastian Coe speaks during a press conference after a presentation to their colleagues IOC members in Lausanne, Switzerland, January 30, 2025. (Fabrice Coffrini/Pool Photo via AP)
“None of these are invasive. They are needed and they will be made to absolutely international medical standards,” he said under a media availability. “I wouldn’t have set off this path in 2016, 2017 to protect the female category in sports if I had been kind of other than prepared to take on the challenge head.
“We have been at the arbitral tribunal of sports on our [difference of sexual development] DSD rules. They have been maintained and again they have been maintained by appeal. We will do doggest protect the female category and we will do what is needed to do so. And we’re not just talking about it. “
COE emphasized the importance of keeping women’s sportswoman.
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The question of trans athletes in women’s sports hit a fever height last year. (Angela Weiss/AFP via Getty Images)
“It’s important to do it because it maintains everything we’ve talked about, and especially recently about not only talking about the woman’s integrity, women’s sports, but actually guarantees, and this feels that we feel is a really important way to give confidence and maintain absolute focus on the integrity of the competition,” he said.
Officials said in February that the test is looking for the sry gene, according to Sky News. The specific gene “provides instructions for the manufacture of a protein called the gender-determined area Y-protein. This protein is involved in male typical gender development, which usually follows a particular pattern based on a person’s chromosomes,” according to Medline Plus.
The test is taken via cheek stick with possibly a dry blood test if necessary.
COE, who was in the process of becoming the international head of the Olympic Committee, said in November that the Olympics needed a clear policy to protect female sports.
Sebastian Coe arrives at the mixed zone during a break of the 144th session choosing the new IOC president, in Costa Navarino, Western Greece, Wednesday, March 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Thanassis Stavrakis)
World Athletics, the governing body of freedom sports across the globe, tightened its rules on trans athletes to exclude transnry women who have undergone male puberty from competing in the female category.
