Sharron Davies and Laura Woods have both shared statements celebrating the International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) decision to ban trans athletes from competition.
IOC President Kirsty Coventry made the landmark announcement that athletes will be subject to mandatory sex testing in the form of a once-in-a-lifetime SRY gene test will help ‘protect fairness, safety and integrity in the female category’.
Under the new testing regulations, transgender athletes will be barred, and those with Disorder of Sex Development (DSD) will have to prove that they ‘do not benefit from the anabolic and/or performance-enhancing effects of testosterone’.
There has only been one athlete in the history of the Summer and Winter Games who has openly competed as a trans woman – weightlifter Laurel Hubbard, who placed last in her group at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021.
But debate around increased sex testing in sport has swirled around the Olympics following allegations that boxers Imane Khelif and Lin Yu-ting had failed tests issued by disgraced boxing federation the International Boxing Association in 2023.
Both former Olympian Davies and sports broadcaster Woods have previously endorsed increased testing, having both questioned Khelif’s run to gold in Paris.
Woods, who previously shared that she had received death threats towards her then-unborn child after speaking out against Khelif two years ago, responded to the IOC’s statement with three clapping hands emojis.
Sharron Davies has been among those to praise the IOC for introducing mandatory testing
Sports broadcaster Laura Woods was similarly pleased with the decision after speaking out two years ago
Former swimmer Davies was more full-throated in her celebrations, writing a number of posts in support of the decision.
‘Males can [no] longer steal places or prizes ( & all the associated opportunities that beings) from women in Olympic sport NOW that must apply to all women, because some women are not more worthy of fairness than others,’ she wrote. ‘Fairness for all female athletes, at all levels.’
A second post started with the statement that ‘This is the males at long last being told NO’, before quoting from the IOC’s announcement.
Another read: ‘How mad they we are having to get excited about women’s sport being for women!
‘What a mad place we got to where we allowed anyone to identify into an advantage in a category they had no business being in.’
Davies also targeted Khelif specifically, commenting on a picture of the Algerian Olympian consoling her opponent in the first round, Italian fighter Angela Carini.
‘A shameful episode in Olympic history but a shout out to the 4th 5th & 6th placed women who were really 1st 2nd & 3rd in the Rio 800,’ Davies wrote, referencing the 2016 women’s 800m podium which featured a number of athletes – including Caster Semenya – with DSD.
Khelif has been adamant that she is a woman since questions over her gender arose, and in February, announced that she would be happy to complete a sex test in order to compete at the Los Angeles Olympics in two years’ time.
Lin was cleared to compete at World Boxing events just last week after the governing body reviewed her sex eligibility test.
Woods celebrated the decision while Davies shared how she believes it is ‘mad’ that ‘we have to get excited’ about the ruling
Imane Khelif has been adamant that she will compete in Los Angeles and take the tests to do so
In 2025, World Boxing then confirmed that fighters would be required to undergo mandatory sex screening to compete in their events – with Lin now free to take part in fights after questions over her sex were cleared up.
The IOC’s decision to introduce mandatory testing comes on the heels of similar decisions taken both by World Boxing, and World Athletics, who made it compulsory for female athletes to take the test to compete in major championships or Diamond League events last year.
IOC president Kirsty Coventry said: ‘As a former athlete, I passionately believe in the rights of all Olympians to take part in fair competition. The policy that we have announced is based on science and has been led by medical experts.
‘At the Olympic Games, even the smallest margins can be the difference between victory and defeat.
‘So, it is absolutely clear that it would not be fair for biological males to compete in the female category. In addition, in some sports it would simply not be safe.
‘Every athlete must be treated with dignity and respect, and athletes will need to be screened only once in their lifetime.
‘There must be clear education around the process and counselling available, alongside expert medical advice.’
