
From Caster Semenya to Lia Thomas: FIVE sportspeople who changed the gender rulesThe decision by World Athletics to ban male-to-female transgender athletes from women's competition will have a wider effect on global sport.
by AFP
24-03-2023 12:38
in LGBTQIA+
The decision by World Athletics to ban male-to-female transgender athletes from women's competition will have a wider effect on global sport. Photo: Getty Images
The decision taken by World Athletics on Thursday to ban male-to-female transgender athletes from women's competition is likely to have a wider effect on global sports.
--
FOR THE LATEST ATHLETICS NEWS VISIT THE SOUTH AFRICAN WEBSITE
Below, a look at FIVE sportspeople who have previously found themselves at the heart of the gender debate.
Caster Semenya: Hyperandrogeny A double Olympic champion and triple world champion in the 800m, South Africa's Caster Semenya raised all manner of questions about her hyperandrogenism, which causes an elevated level of testosterone.
--
After a controversial victory at the 2009 world championships when she was just 18, the IAAF as World Athletics was previously known introduced rules two years later, for the first time, allowing hyperandrogenic athletes to compete on condition that they display androgen levels below those recorded for men.
But in 2018 the IAAF made it mandatory for athletes, via drug treatments, to lower their testosterone levels to under 5 nanomoles per litre of blood for six months in order to compete in international events from 400m to the mile.
The decision was badly received in South Africa where it was interpreted as a way to slow down Semenya who unsuccessfuly challenged the ruling in court and was unable to defend her 800m title in the 2019 Doha world championships.
--
She did not make the qualifying for the Tokyo Olympics in the 200m and failed to reach the final of the 5 000m at the world championships in Eugene.
PHOTO | Caster Semenya and wife share first picture of baby No 2
Laurel Hubbard: Olympic pioneer In August 2021, in Tokyo, New Zealand weightlifter Laurel Hubbard, then 43 years old, made history by becoming the first openly transgender woman to take part in an Olympic event.
Hubbard met the qualification criteria for the Olympics, which required that her testosterone level be maintained below 10 nmol per litre for at least 12 months.
In spite of meeting the requirements, Hubbard's participation was widely criticised.
Subsequently, the IOC gave up at the end of 2021 on establishing uniform guidelines for the participation criteria of intersex and transgender athletes, leaving it to the separate international federations.
Emily Bridges: Wheels in motion Transgender cyclist Emily Bridges, who had previously competed at elite level as Zach Bridges, was initially allowed to compete in last year's British National Omnium Championships, after having met the criteria laid down by the national cycling federation.
However, Bridges, now 22, was forced to pull out because she was not eligible under International Cycling Union (UCI) rules.
A week later, British Cycling decided to suspend its rules regarding the participation of transgender and non-binary athletes in competitions. In November, the policy was still under review .
Lia Thomas: Making waves In February 2022, USA Swimming decided to revise its rules, limiting testosterone levels to less than 5 nmol/l for a period of at least 36 months for any transgender athletes wanting to compete at the elite level.
The change was prompted by the controversy surrounding the performance of swimmer Lia Thomas in the university championship. Born male and having begun transition in 2019, Thomas was adjudged by detractors to be physiologically advantaged.
Barely a month later, the University of Pennsylvania swimmer won the women's 500-yard freestyle final. It was an historic victory, made possible by the refusal of the NCAA, which governs college sports, not to apply the new USA federation rules.
In June 2022, FINA, the international swimming federation, announced that it wanted to create an open category for transgender athletes. But it limited entry to its women's categories to swimmers who became women before puberty .
ALSO READ | Lia Thomas: Five things to know about the transgender swimmer
Hannah Mouncey: Aussie rules Hannah Mouncey was a top level men's handball player, picking up 22 selections for Australia. Mouncey began transitioning in 2015 and switched attentions to women's Australian Rules Football.
In 2017, however, Mouncey was banned by the Australian Football League (AFL) from participating in the AFLW draft.
The federation then admitted that Mouncey, now 33, has taken part in a process that will contribute to the development of policies and procedures with regard to transgender people .
Mouncey went on to play one season in 2018 before reverting to handball, going on to represent Australia's women's team.
By Garrin Lambley Agence France-Presse
How much of a rugby fanatic are you? FIVE simple answers could win you R1 000 in cash!
Most recent headlines
19/12/2025
SVG Sit-Down: Diversified's Jared Timmins on AI for Broadcast Sports and Cre...
19/12/2025
2025 SVG Summit Audio Recap: Say What? The Audio Production and Distribution Workshop at the SVG Summit 20 took on issues including speech intelligibility, Next...
19/12/2025
Gamified fun: Channel 5 on its NFL Big Game Night ambitions with Hungry Bear Med...
19/12/2025
College Football Playoff Preview: For ESPN, Round 1 is a Fantastic Yet Familia...
19/12/2025
AWS's Jason Dvorkin on Developing Partnerships With the NBA and PGA Tour, Em...
19/12/2025
Netflix Kicks Off Packed Sports Week with Paul-Joshua Fight Before Shifting to N...
19/12/2025
SVG New Sponsor Spotlight: Presidio's Nareev Shah on the Role of Its Captiva...
19/12/2025
Mounted to the pylon of an AH-1Z Viper helicopter, a Red Wolf vehicle successful...
19/12/2025
L3Harris technology for the SDA Tranche 3 Tracking Layer program will provide in...
19/12/2025
Partnership brings Nielsen ONE measurement activation directly into XR's adv...
19/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
19/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
19/12/2025
Berklee Announces Spring 2026 Signature Series This season's highlights include the Gospel Extravaganza, the 40th International Folk Festival, special gue...
19/12/2025
Performing arts centres across the globe have doubled down on live production infrastructure in recent years. For venues like the Queensland Performing Arts Cen...
19/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
19/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
19/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
19/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
19/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
19/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
19/12/2025
Ricardo Coke-Thomas Named Chair of Theater for Boston Conservatory at Berklee The distinguished theater educator, director, and performer will join the Conser...
19/12/2025
Wrapping up a year of connection and clarity!
19 Dec Written By Suzanne Costello
As 2025 comes to a close, we want to take a moment to thank our incredib...
19/12/2025
The six-part drama, set in a close-knit Welsh town fractured by an unspeakable c...
19/12/2025
Rohde & Schwarz drives the future of mobility at CES 2026 At the 2026 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Rohde & Schwarz will present a powerful lineup o...
19/12/2025
Back to All News
Salvador arrives to Netflix on February 6
Entertainment
19 December 2025
GlobalSpain
Link copied to clipboard
WHEN THERE IS NOTHING LEFT ...
19/12/2025
Back to All News
Last Samurai Standing' Renewed for Season 2 - A Global Se...
19/12/2025
RT is proud to return to the RDS to support the 2026 Stripe Young Scientist & T...
19/12/2025
Nanoparticle vaccine strategy could protect against Ebola and other deadly filoviruses Scripps Research scientists turn nanoparticles into virus showcases to ...
18/12/2025
SVG Campus Shot Callers: Kurt Sutton, Director of Broadcast Operations, Clemson ...
18/12/2025
Follow the Money Episode 2: Inside the Sports Media Biz with Sam McCleery and St...
18/12/2025
SVG Sit-Down: Google Cloud's Anshul Kapoor on the Future of Generative Prod...
18/12/2025
The 2025 SVG Summit Draws Record Crowd for 20th-Annual Sports-Production Industr...
18/12/2025
SBS's sports schedule sizzles in January with Dakar Rally, Kooyong Classic a...
18/12/2025
Canada's largest indoor arena has transformed its live production capabilities with a full ST 2110 infrastructure and Calrec's compact Argo S console. S...
18/12/2025
During November, streaming's share of TV viewing in Mexico settled at 24.2%, an increase of 0.5 share points from the previous month.
Disclaimer: YUMI TV,...
18/12/2025
November continued the upward trend in television viewership. The significantly colder weather and a rich programming lineup encouraged viewers to spend more ti...
18/12/2025
As viewers turn to sports highlights, recaps and documentary programming, expand...
18/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
18/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
18/12/2025
The HELM, a global expert in cinematic live broadcast and high-end production workflows, has entered a strategic partnership with ARRI, the renowned designer an...
18/12/2025
Cadena Melod a de Colombia (Cadena Melod a), a long-established Colombian radio network, has chosen DHD audio SX2 production consoles for integration into the m...
18/12/2025
Harmonic (NASDAQ: HLIT) today announced that Czech Television (Czech TV), the public broadcaster of the Czech Republic, has teamed up with Harmonic to modernize...
18/12/2025
Broadcast Solutions Group, a leading system integrator and provider of innovative solutions for the broadcast and media industry, has announced the acquisition ...
18/12/2025
Keepit, the SaaS data protection company, announced today that it has been named a Leader in the IDC MarketScape: Worldwide SaaS Data Protection 2025-2026 Vendo...
18/12/2025
Limecraft today announced the release of Limecraft 2025.8, the eighth and final major platform update of the year. This release strengthens daily workflows acro...
18/12/2025
DigitalGlue is very grateful, especially at this time of the year, that its creative.space platform has expanded its footprint within the House of Worship marke...
18/12/2025
TAG Video Systems is proud to share that the company has recently received multiple industry recognitions across the Asia-Pacific region, reflecting its ongoing...
18/12/2025
NDI, the leading video connectivity standard for AV-over-IP, and Zoom, the AI-first collaboration platform, announce a strategic collaboration to integrate the ...
18/12/2025
Leading video software provider, Synamedia, today announced that it is extending its long-standing relationship with YES, the pay-TV subsidiary of the largest I...
18/12/2025
Riedel Communications today announced it provided a fully integrated communications and commentary solution for the 15th National Games of China, supporting 56 ...