12/18/24
May 17, 2004
The International Olympic Committee will allow transsexual athletes to compete under their assigned gender beginning at the Summer Olympics in Athens this August.
It's hard to believe that hormone therapy alone removes the athletic advantage of the male body.
posted by dusted at 06:30 PM on May 17, 2004
It's hard to believe that hormone therapy alone removes the athletic advantage of the male body. It probably doesn't -- especially the bigger heart and lung capacity. However, at the highest levels of sport, the "between group variation" of males and females (i.e. statistical differences between men and women) in the overall population is probably not so significant. That is, Olympic athletes are genetic freaks whose physical makeups far outclass ordinary peoples' regardless of gender (not to mention the drugs). Thus, the only way this IOC ruling would tip the playing field is if an already extraordinary male athlete had his sex changed to female.
posted by molafson at 06:44 PM on May 17, 2004
There are 6.3 billion people on Earth and around 2,500 athletes in the last Olympics, so the chances of being good enough to compete are 1 in 2.5 million. There are 40,000 post-op transsexuals at the most generous estimate, which is around 1 in 160,000. Considering those odds, I can't imagine this will amount to an issue. Certainly not one to compare to the real competitive imbalance in the Olympics: the edge that funding and technology gives athletes from countries like the U.S.
posted by rcade at 08:10 PM on May 17, 2004
I'll check back in on this when the Saudis finance a transsexual female weightlifter to gold.
posted by wfrazerjr at 09:11 PM on May 17, 2004
Under a proposal approved by the IOC executive board, athletes who have undergone sex-change surgery will be eligible for the Olympics if their new gender has been legally recognized and they have gone through a minimum two-year period of postoperative hormone therapy. Does anyone know off the top of their head if the US and/or its Western Counterparts offer legal status for post-op transsexuals? I can't remember, but if nobody else knows, I'll google it tomorrow at work.
posted by Ufez Jones at 09:51 PM on May 17, 2004
Don't these people need to take some serious post-operative drugs? Wouldn't they fail the testing?
posted by billsaysthis at 10:53 PM on May 17, 2004
athletes who have undergone sex-change surgery will be eligible for the Olympics if their new gender has been legally recognized and they have gone through a minimum two-year period of postoperative hormone therapy. And there you have it, girls and boys. For the first time in sports, athletes are required to take drugs before they can participate.
posted by worldcup2002 at 11:26 PM on May 17, 2004
An Outside magazine piece on Canadian transexual Michelle Dumaresq's struggle to gain acceptance on the pro mountain-biking circuit.
posted by liam at 08:18 AM on May 18, 2004
This is good news for Cyclist Tammy Thomas. (not displaying directly due to the site's bandwidth and your own sanity - click at your own risk)
posted by Bernreuther at 01:33 PM on May 18, 2004
1. Remove penis. 2. ??? 3. Profit.