Olympic gold medalist and Title IX advocate calls for reevaluation of transgender policies

Olympic gold medalist and Title IX advocator Donna de Varona discusses the NCAA board debating their transgender policy after new research.

With new research arguing transgender women athletes hold a competitive edge over biologically female competitors, an Olympic gold medalist and Title IX advocate on Tuesday called for policies to protect fairness and safety in female sports.

"I’ve been working with other elite women athletes and researchers and even the International Olympic Committee to get them to reevaluate their quick judgment on promoting a policy that really is unfair for the safety and promotion of women sports in that category," Donna de Varona, 1964 Olympics gold medalist in swimming, told "America Reports."

TRANS WOMEN ATHLETES HOLD COMPETITIVE EDGE, EVEN AFTER TESTOSTERONE SUPPRESSION, SCIENTISTS SAY

Transgender women athletes who went through typical male puberty during adolescence still hold a competitive edge over their biologically female competitors, and one year of testosterone suppression therapy as required by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) isn’t enough to ensure fairness in women’s sports, some scientists argue.

The scientific community is conflicted over the issue of fairness in women’s sports as trans athletes like University of Pennsylvania swimmer Lia Thomas make headlines for dominating on women’s teams. Women’s sports advocates and parents at Penn have recently spoken out against the NCAA and its rules on transgender student-athlete participation, which require trans women athletes to undergo at least a year of testosterone suppression treatment before competing on a women’s team.

Thomas, who competed on the men’s team for three years before switching to the women's team