Introduction
The new guidelines state that transgender athletes may be permitted to compete in the Olympics without undergoing sex reassignment surgery. New Zealand heavyweight athlete Laurel Hubbard will become the first transgender athlete to compete in the Olympics (Safer 3). Hubbard was one of five weightlifters from that country to be approved in the capital of the next Games, Tokyo. As is often the case with transgender or intersex people in sports, the news sparked a strong reaction. Opponents of such a decision insist that transgender athletes and intersex individuals will have an advantage in tournaments. Thus, it is necessary to establish whether or not transgender people should be allowed to compete in the Olympics. Hence, transgender people should also be permitted to compete in the Olympics, but their parameters need to be verified in a specific case.
The Position Against
There are physiological differences between the average man and the average woman. Men are taller, weigh more, have more muscle and skeletal mass, have greater bone density, and have relatively bigger volumes of heart and lung. There are sports in which these distinctions provide an advantage. New rules governing female athletes with disabilities are in effect (Safer 3). According to them, if such an athlete has testes and testosterone levels equal to those of males, it results in the same increase in bone size and muscle strength. It also raises hemoglobin levels like those of men during puberty, giving men an advantage over women in sports.
In order to provide fair competition in women’s sports, such athletes must take medication and lower their testosterone levels to female levels before they can compete in international competitions. The maximum level allowed is 5 nmol/l, which should not be exceeded for six months before the competition (Kanin 20). If these distances are involved, these requirements apply to 400-meter to mile runs and multi-sport events. In the vast majority of females, total testosterone levels are in the 0.12-1.79 nmol/l range. In males who have reached puberty, the level is much higher than 7.7-29.4 nmol/l (Kanin 20). Thus, it negatively affects the prognosis of the competition. That is why transgender females gain advantages while transgender males lag in testosterone levels.
Arguments in Support
Criteria for participation in competitions should be defined and implemented fairly and in a manner that does not exclude athletes because of their gender identity or their sex. Athletes should be permitted to compete in categories that best align with their self-defined gender identity (Richardson and Chen 1857). Such athletes may be tested the day before to avoid an undue competitive advantage. Nonetheless, no athlete should be purposefully tested solely because of sex and gender. In this way, the tests reject the criticism that transgender women have an advantage. For example, the biological benefits of having passed puberty as a male include increased bone and muscle density (Richardson and Chen 1857). Accordingly, if fundamental indicators such as weight and height are the same for competitors, they should be eligible to compete in the Olympics. Therefore, having individual testing allows transgender people to compete. Thus, it compares their rights and those of other individuals. At the same time, weight or height advantages are examined individually.
Conclusion
Hence, athletes cannot be excluded or suspended from competition unless there is verified evidence that their gender, physical ability, or transgender status gives them an unfair advantage. Therefore, even an argument about increased or decreased testosterone levels cannot be considered valid since health characteristics testing can prevent the risk of physical preservation of athletes. Thus, personalized testing enables everyone to compete if their metrics are the same as their competitors.
Works Cited
Kanin, David. A Political History of the Olympic Games. Routledge, 2019.
Richardson, Andrew, and Mark Chen. “Comment on Sport and Transgender People: A Systematic Review of Rhe literature relating to Sport Participation and Competitive Sports Policies”. Sports Medicine, vol. 50, no. 10, 2020, pp. 1857-1859.
Safer, Joshua. “Fairness for Transgender People in Sport.” Journal of the Endocrine Society, vol. 6, no. 5, 2022, pp. 1-10.