World Athletics Council bans men from women’s sports

On Thursday, the World Athletics Council said it would not allow men identifying as women who have gone through puberty as a male to compete in women’s sports. The new regulations will take effect at the end of the month. The council also said it would set up a yearlong working group to consider how to integrate so-called transgender athletes into sports and athletics.

Why is the council making these decisions? The World Athletics Council says it has ten years of research and evidence indicating that male athletes who identify as female have an unfair advantage in the women’s categories of sports. “We must maintain fairness for female athletes above all other considerations,” President Sebastian Coe said in a statement. The track and field athletics governing body, formed in 1912, is based in Monaco. 

Dig deeper: Read David Closson’s column in WORLD Opinions analyzing President Joe Biden’s rhetoric about transgender issues.