World Athletics will introduce genetic tests for women’s sporting events

Olympic gold medalist Sebastian Coe wants to ensure only biological women compete in women’s sports.

The World Athletics president announced this week that female athletes will have to take a one-time genetic test to compete in the athletic body’s women’s sports events.

The organization, which governs elite road running and track and field events, will find a test provider that offers non-invasive exams, including cheek swabs or blood spot analysis tests, Reuters reports.

Female athletes will only have to take the exam once in their careers to prove they lack the SRY gene – a gene located only on Y chromosomes. 

Coe, who won two gold medals in track for Great Britain in the 1980s, said the testing will ensure women have safe and fair competition. 

“This maintains everything we’ve been discussing, particularly recently, about not just talking about the integrity of female sport, but actually guaranteeing it,” he told reporters. 

It’s unclear if the tests will be ready for the September 2025 World Athletics Championship. However, Coe said the organization is drafting its regulations and will finalize a deal with a testing provider soon. 

Although he recently lost his International Olympic Committee presidential bid, that body’s new leader may also take action to prevent transgenders from competing in women’s sports. 

Kirsty Coventry, the new IOC president, told Europe’s Olympic Committee last month she wants “to ensure that front and foremost, we protect (the) female category. 

“I do believe everyone has the right to play sport, 100%, but when it comes to the Olympic Games … being a former female athlete and having two young girls, I want to ensure that category is protected.” Coventry is a former Olympic swimmer who has served as Zimbabwe’s youth, sport and recreation minister. 

Her stance comes as Algerian boxer Imane Khelif, who reportedly has XY chromosomes and was the subject of controversy at the 2024 Paris Olympics, vowed to compete in the 2028 Games in Los Angeles, despite U.S. attempts to block transgender athletes. 

Over two dozen Republican congressmen sent Coventry an open letter earlier this month urging the IOC to ban males from women’s sports, and President Donald Trump has vowed to deny visas to transgender athletes hoping to compete in the 2028 games.   

Khelif, who denies being male, also denied being transgender. 

“I will give you a straightforward answer: the U.S. president issued a decision related to transgender policies in America. I am not transgender,” Khelif told ITV. “This does not concern me, and it does not intimidate me. That is my response.”