On July 23, 2021, billions of people witnessed the Olympic flame burn once again as the Tokyo Olympics began, but with new rules facilitating transgender athletes' participation in women's events for the first time and the heated debate that followed has proved the 2021 Olympic Games to be highly controversial. As nations compete to make their mark on the medal tables, there is a possibility that trans athletes might dominate some women’s sports and that these events could once again, like East Germany's doping system in the 1970s and 1980s, be marred by unfairness.

Women athletes around the world have fought relentlessly to compete in sports, which is intrinsically about fostering health, excellence, skill, and character, all while utilising limited opportunities under very uneven conditions. For an athlete, an Olympic medal brings not only fame but also performance awards and bonuses. On a larger scale, performance at the national level is used to identify international teams, college scholarships, grants, and international event funding.

The rules of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) currently permit trans athletes [those with a gender identity different to the sex that was allotted to them at birth (male) to be precise] to compete in women's sporting events, provided that they have demonstrated testosterone levels below 10 nmol/L for a minimum of 12 months before the competition (without requiring any sex reassignment surgery) and stated that they have a female gender identity. Many argue that this 12-month requirement is not backed up by any studies to indicate that one year is sufficient to do more than confirm an individual's dedication to living as a woman. On the contrary, the ruling recently came under fire following the publication of scientific documents which stated that individuals with male puberty retain significant advantages, including in power and strength, even after taking drugs to decrease their testosterone levels.

The biological fact of puberty vesting into the male body results in superior metabolism, more lung power, greater and sturdier bone structure, more fast twitching fibres, and a higher proportional muscle mass is sacrosanct as well(an advantage that hormonal therapy to reduce androgen levels to less than five nanomoles per litre of serum cannot reverse). Also, women having two copies of the pitch elevation and cartilage development variant in the X chromosome tend to be shorter than men. Taking an example for comparison, American runner Allyson Felix is the fastest sprinter in the world. She is an inspiration to me, with an all-time record of 49.26 seconds over 400 meters. However, according to 2018 data, close to 300 secondary school boys in the United States alone could break this record; which inevitably leads us to wonder if it is fair to allow trans athletes to compete with women in the realm of sports. This discussion about the fluidity of gender identity might raise some eyebrows, but it is commonly seen as the razor’s edge of libertarianism, and the obligation for individuals and institutions to appear progressive or face cancellation takes precedence over reason and fairness. 

Even though there isn’t any evidence to support that countries would misuse the current 12-month policy, the parade of horrors is not difficult to imagine. Many countries do not have any problem with outright cheating-: government-sponsored doping has been the main scourge for years. It is conceivable that these nations, which adopt a win-at-all-costs attitude, would coerce second-tier male athletes to report their gender as female, abide by the 10nmol/L rule and dominate their respective events. With the requirement for sex reassignment surgery eliminated, the athletes would be able to compete as women for a few Olympics cycles before stopping suppression therapy after having experienced glory by winning for decades. Keep in mind that these are the same countries that have had no problem doping 13-year-old girls to win medals. In my opinion, the current initiatives made by the IOC are blatantly unfair to female athletes. The International Olympic Committee can’t put any policies into effect which are at the expense of the Olympic Spirit of fair play. 

So how can the IOC be inclusive while maintaining a level playing field? I would suggest that a separate competition for transgender athletes would not be correct- taking a marginalised group and segregating them even further. These vacuous policies are not only anti-women but also against the interests of intersex and trans athletes who want to play by means that are fair to everybody since they have qualified according to existing policies and did not violate any rules. The inclusion of athletes transitioning in the name of a movement in the sport after spending most of their adult lives as men surely spell disaster for any real transgender policy from ever taking effect or being considered in the future. To make a long story short, don't hate the player, hate the game.  Since there is an evolving body of research still emerging on the topic, the policy may be revised and should be backed by science, not emotion or rhetoric.