Transgender women athletes' future in competition uncertain as sports organizations change rules, issue bans

Just 18 months after transgender athletes competed for the first time at the Olympics, international sporting federations are reconsidering whether transgender women should be allowed to keep participating in elite women's competitions, as debate rages in sports and politics circles over who has the right to play.

Some sports organizations introduced bans this week, citing a need to ensure fairness in women's competition — even though experts say the science is far from decisive on whether athletes who have transitioned from male to female have any competitive advantage over their cisgender female competitors.

The International Swimming Federation (FINA) will now only allow transgender women who began transitioning before the age of 12 to compete in high-level international competitions, including swimming, diving and water polo. FINA's rule also affects athletes with a condition known as 46 XY DSD (also referred to as intersex), who have genitalia that is not clearly male or female, but who identify as female.

A day after FINA's rule came into effect, the International Rugby League went even further, banning all transgender women from international matches while it reviews and updates its rules on participation. A spokesperson told CBC News there are no transgender players at the international level.

World Athletics, which oversees track and field, race walking and other athletics events, has hinted it may follow suit when it reviews its own rules later this year.

"If there is a conflict between fairness and inclusion in the female category, we will always choose fairness," a spokesperson for World Athletics told CBC News, adding that FINA's decision was "in the best interests of its sport."

The new policies come after