Editorial: Harmful anachronism: World Athletics reinstates gene testing to participate in women's competitions

In advance of the 2025 World Athletics Championships in Tokyo, World Athletics (WA) announced that passing a genetic test, specifically for the absence of the SRY gene, is a prerequisite for competing in the women’s category in all athletics World Rankings Competitions as of 1 September 2025 (online supplemental table 1). Athletes who do not pass the test will be considered ‘biological males’ and required to prove that they have complete androgen insensitivity syndrome (CAIS) in order to compete. This requirement recycles an intentionally discontinued practice from the last century. After ending the discredited chromosome (Barr body) tests that had been used since the 1960s, the International Olympic Committee briefly used SRY gene tests from 1992 to 19991 before they were also withdrawn because of inaccuracy, lack of evidence of performance advantage, excessive cost including the cost of counselling, and the trauma and stigmatisation experienced by athletes and their families.

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Publication Details

Journal
e-space (Manchester Metropolitan University)
Published
2026-03-04
Primary Topic
Genetics and Physical Performance
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
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article

Editorial: Harmful anachronism: World Athletics reinstates gene testing to participate in women's competitions

Antoine Duval, Sasha Gollish, Madeleine Pape, Sarah Teetzel et al.
e-space (Manchester Metropolitan University)
Genetics and Physical Performance
article

Editorial: Harmful anachronism: World Athletics reinstates gene testing to participate in women's competitions

Antoine Duval, Sasha Gollish, Madeleine Pape, Sarah Teetzel, Adam J. Herbert, Fergus Guppy, Blair Hamilton, Georgina K. Stebbings, Sigmund Loland, Shane M. Heffernan, Marcus Mazzucco, Vanessa Heggie, Silvia Camporesi, Jensen Brehaut, Niall Timothy Fife, María José Martínez Patiño, Jonathan Ospina-Betancurt, Jörg Krieger, Tim Cable, Alexandra L Shaw, Fernanda Malinsky, Eric Vilain, Jonathan D. Cooper, Alun G. Williams, Roger Pielke, Mike J. McNamee, Francisco J. Sánchez, Pascal Borry, Lyndsay P Pieper, Jaime Schultz, Richard Holt, Luke Cox, Yannis P. Pitsiladis, Andrew Sinclair
article en

Abstract

In advance of the 2025 World Athletics Championships in Tokyo, World Athletics (WA) announced that passing a genetic test, specifically for the absence of the SRY gene, is a prerequisite for competing in the women’s category in all athletics World Rankings Competitions as of 1 September 2025 (online supplemental table 1). Athletes who do not pass the test will be considered ‘biological males’ and required to prove that they have complete androgen insensitivity syndrome (CAIS) in order to compete. This requirement recycles an intentionally discontinued practice from the last century. After ending the discredited chromosome (Barr body) tests that had been used since the 1960s, the International Olympic Committee briefly used SRY gene tests from 1992 to 19991 before they were also withdrawn because of inaccuracy, lack of evidence of performance advantage, excessive cost including the cost of counselling, and the trauma and stigmatisation experienced by athletes and their families.

e-space (Manchester Metropolitan University)
Gender equality
Openalex Percentile: Top 22%
Genetics and Physical Performance
Open Access PDFOpenAlex
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