Skiing's governing body approves gender eligibility testing policy

Skiing's governing body approved a gene testing policy for gender eligibility in women's events Wednesday, but delayed a decision on letting some Russian athletes try to qualify with neutral status for next year's Winter Olympics.

The International Ski and Snowboard Federation (FIS) said it will work with national team officials on implementing the policy, which follows the lead taken by track and field's World Athletics.

"The eligibility conditions laid out in the policy are grounded on the presence or absence of the so-called SRY gene, the sex-determining gene present on humans' Y chromosome," FIS said in a statement.

It was not clear to what extent athletes with the SRY gene have previously competed in women's events in FIS disciplines, which include alpine and cross-country skiing, ski jumping, snowboarding and freestyle skiing.

Both FIS president Johan Eliasch and World Athletics leader Sebastian Coe campaigned as candidates in the International Olympic Committee election this year promising to protect the female category.

"This policy is the cornerstone of our commitment to protect women's sport," Eliasch said Wednesday in a FIS statement, "and we are convinced that there is only one fair and transparent way to do that: by relying on science and biological facts."

The IOC now has its first female president, two-time Olympic champion swimmer Kirsty Coventry of Zimbabwe, who has overseen creating a working group of experts to look at gender issues in sports.

An issue for athletes in France and Norway, which are both strong in winter sports, is that both countries have national laws prohibiting gene testing for non-medical reasons.

Ahead of the track and field world championships in Tokyo this month, French and