Explainer: All competitive sports in Britain could be affected by the new guidance as it urges governing bodies to weigh up competing pressures of inclusion, fairness and safety
Who is this new transgender guidance for? All competitive sports across Britain, from grassroots to national level. As things stand, most of them follow International Olympic Committee guidelines from 2015, which state that trans women can compete in the female category if they suppress their testosterone to below 10n/mol per litre for 12 months. However, as the guidelines note, the IOC recently said such an approach was no longer fit for purpose because of emerging research into the “retained advantage” that trans women are likely to have.
What are the key points in the new guidelines? Essentially the five sports councils – which fund and invest in sport across Great Britain and Northern Ireland – are saying three things: 1) The science shows that trans women retain physique, strength and stamina advantages; 2) There is no magic solution that balances trans inclusion in female gender-affected sport with competitive fairness and safety; 3) Therefore some sports will have to make a conscious choice prioritising either inclusion or fairness and safety.