World Athletics on Tuesday said that it had introduced cheek swab test to determine if an athlete is biologically female.
World Athletics CEO Sebastian Coe said the decision taken by decision-making body of the international track and field federation was really important to protect the female category.
“It’s important to do it because it maintains everything that we’ve been talking about, and particularly recently, about not just talking about the integrity of women’s sport, but actually guaranteeing it,” Coe said in a press conference after the World Indoor Championships in Nanjing, China.
“We feel this is a really important way of providing confidence and maintaining absolute focus on the integrity of competition.”
The decision was taken after wide consultation on proposal.
“Overwhelmingly, the view has come back that this is absolutely the way to go,” he said, adding, “You accept the fact that that is the world we live in.
“I would never have set off down this path to protect the female category in sport if I’d been anything other than prepared to take the challenge head on.
“We’ve been to the Court of Arbitration on our DSD (difference of sex development) regulations.
“They have been upheld, and they have again been upheld after appeal. So we will doggedly protect the female category, and we’ll do whatever is necessary to do it.”
The decision was taken, a week after he finished third in the race to become IOC President.
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