"We're being hounded" - French transgender sprinter decries Olympics ban

AIX-EN-PROVENCE, France : French sprinter Halba Diouf feels she is being marginalised and hounded after her dream of participating at next year's Paris Olympics was shattered when World Athletics (WA) banned transgender women from elite female competitions.

Diouf had been training hard to improve her 200 metres time in the hope of running on home soil at the 2024 Games. But her ambitions were dashed in March when governing body WA banned transgender women who have gone through male puberty from competing in women's events, citing a "need to protect the female category."

"I cannot understand this decision as transgender women have always been allowed to compete if their testosterone levels were below a certain threshold," Diouf told Reuters in an interview.

"The only safeguard transgender women have is their right to live as they wish and we are being refused that, we are being hounded... I feel marginalised because they are excluding me from competitions."

Born in Senegal, Diouf arrived in France at the age of four. As an adult, she moved to Aix-en-Provence where she started hormone therapy to change sex - and her gender transition was recognised by French authorities in 2021.

The tighter measures imposed by WA around one of the most contentious and divisive issues in sport - how to balance inclusivity while ensuring there is no unfair advantage - follow a similar move by World Aquatics in 2022.

LGBTQI advocacy groups say excluding trans athletes amounts to discrimination but WA President Sebastian Coe has said: "Decisions are always difficult when they involve conflicting needs and rights between different groups, but we continue to take the view that we must maintain fairness for female athletes above all other