World Athletics introduces testing for gender eligibility requirements: 'Cannot trump biology'

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The World Athletics Council announced Wednesday that athletes wishing to compete in female categories at the World Championships are required to undergo a "once-in-a-lifetime test" for eligibility.

The test will be for the SRY gene, "a reliable proxy for determining biological sex" with a cheek swab or blood test, the organization said in a release.

"The philosophy that we hold dear in World Athletics is the protection and the promotion of the integrity of women's sport. It is really important in a sport that is permanently trying to attract more women that they enter a sport believing there is no biological glass ceiling. The test to confirm biological sex is a very important step in ensuring this is the case," World Athletics President Sebastian Coe said. 

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Lord Sebastian Coe, World Athletics president, delivers a keynote speech during the European Athletics Young Leaders Forum at TUM Campus Aug. 18, 2022, in Munich, Germany. (Simon Hofmann/Getty Images for European Athletics)

"We are saying, at elite level, for you to compete in the female category, you have to be biologically female. It was always very clear to me and the World Athletics Council that gender cannot trump biology."

The organization announced the potential test in March, when Coe said the testing was "necessary" to protect women's sports.

The specific gene "provides instructions for making a protein called the sex-determining region Y protein. This protein is