World Athletics federation announces mandatory gender testing for female athletes: 'Absolutely the way to go'

World Athletics announced it will begin mandatory gender testing for female athletes in order to protect the integrity of women's sports.

The organization formerly known as the International Association of Athletics Federations revealed at a press conference that after a comprehensive review, it was ready to move forward with gender tests in order to ensure female athletes at their events are indeed female.

World Athletics holds a plethora of annual events in track and field, covering sports like indoor/outdoor running, decathlons, and racewalking.

'The process is very straightforward.'

World Athletics President Sebastian Coe said during the press conference that "over 70 individual groups" were involved in an "exhaustive review" that determined administering the tests was "absolutely the way to go."

"The process is very straightforward, frankly, very clear, and it's an important one," Coe explained to reporters.

The executive was directly asked if swab tests would be the testing method used to determine gender, which Coe confirmed, along with a "dry blood test."

The latter involves the simple analysis of a blood sample or "dried blood spot," which can be used as an alternative to a swab test to find endocrine, genetic, and/or epigenetic markers, according to Science Direct.

World Athletics announced genetic testing days after its Indoor Championships in Nanjing. Photo by Hannah Peters/Getty Images

Coe revealed that the tests were not only not invasive but also "necessary."

"They will be done to absolutely international medical standards," he continued.

Coe remarked that the most difficult part of the endeavor will be to find an international provider that has the capacity to deliver large-scale tests, given that World Athletics holds events all over the world.

The governing body also said the testing would be a "once-in-the-career" type of test for a female athlete.

A reporter asked Coe if the parameters around differences of sexual development — which deals with the classification of gender — would be updated to reflect the new rules. Coe appeared to agree that the parameters should be changed.

"It's important to do it because it maintains everything that we've been talking about and particularly recently, about not just talking about the integrity of female, women's sport, but actually guaranteeing it," Coe replied. "And this, we feel, is a really important way of providing confidence, and maintaining that absolute focus on the integrity of competition."

When asked if he was prepared for any legal or media resistance, Coe said he indeed is ready to take on criticisms and that he would not have set down the path to "protect the female category in sport" almost a decade ago if he were not prepared.

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