- UK Athletics support the decision to require female athletes to take gender tests
- Lord Coe insisted testing intended to ‘guarantee the integrity’ of women’s sports
UK Athletics have thrown their support behind the decision to force female athletes to take a test to prove they are a biological woman.
World Athletics announced this week that any athlete wishing to compete in the female category must now undergo a mandatory cheek swab or dry blood test to determine their gender.
Lord Coe, the president of the global governing body, said the ‘pre-clearance testing’ was to ‘doggedly protect’ and ‘guarantee the integrity’ of women’s events.
It follows the controversy of last summer’s Olympics, when Imane Khelif and Lin Yu-ting won golds in women’s boxing despite being disqualified from the previous year’s World Championships for failing gender eligibility tests.
World Athletics are set to introduce the tough new system in time for the World Championships in September, with anyone missing or refusing the test facing a ban from the Tokyo event.
The mandatory chromosome testing has faced some criticism, with Australian 1500 metres runner Linden Hall admitting she had ‘concerns over athlete welfare’.
UK Athletics chief Jack Buckner has shared his support for new plans to mandate female athletes take a test to determine their biological sex
The shock plans were unveiled by World Athletics president Lord Coe earlier this week
Decision comes following controversy surrounding the likes of Algerian Olympic gold-winning boxer Imane Khelif
However, UK Athletics chief executive Jack Buckner insists he and his federation fully back Lord Coe’s plans.
‘I’m really supportive of it,’ admitted Buckner, speaking at a launch event for next summer’s European Championships in Birmingham.
‘World Athletics has led the way and I would agree with Seb. I think it’s good. It is brilliant to have an international federation trying to lead in terms of fairness and those kind of aspects of the sport.
‘I haven’t spoken in detail about it with our female athletes. But the people I have spoken to are the retired people and there was definitely a strong positive move.
‘I am on the British Olympic Association board and people were supportive of that yesterday.’
