Oh golly how would that even work?
It’s about god damn time.
U.S. Olympic Officials Bar Transgender Women From Women’s Competitions
The United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee quietly changed its eligibility rules on Monday to bar transgender women from competing in Olympic women’s sports, and now will comply with President Trump’s executive order on the issue, according to a post on the organization’s website.
The new policy, expressed in a short, vaguely worded paragraph, is tucked under the category of “USOPC Athlete Safety Policy” on the site, and does not include details of how the ban will work.
How did the non-ban work? How did the ban work before trans ideology came along and shot holes in everything? What “details” do you need of how men staying out of women’s sports would “work”? Do we need details of how keeping hungry bears out of the Olympics would work?
The committee’s new policy means that the national governing bodies of sports federations in the United States — which oversee sporting events for all ages, from youth to masters’ competitions — now must follow the U.S.O.P.C.’s lead, according to several chief executives of sports within the Olympic movement. The U.S.O.P.C. did not respond to a request for comment.
U.S.A. Fencing, for example, posted a new policy for transgender athletes on Friday, to be effective on Aug. 1. Those new rules still allow trans women to compete, but only in the men’s category. The policy says that nonbinary athletes, transgender men and intersex athletes will also be limited to competing in the men’s category.
Good. It’s about god damn time. It should never have been otherwise.
The International Olympic Committee has been struggling for years with the issue of transgender and intersex athletes in sports, coming up with various rules at various times, including sex testing, in an effort to balance fairness with inclusivity.
This is sports we’re talking about. Sport at the elite level is all about exclusivity. There are winners and losers. That’s how competitive sports work. If they become so inclusive that nobody ever wins, they’re a different kind of thing.
How will the ban work? Exactly the way it worked before it was sabotaged, I presume. Back to the once-in-a-lifetime cheek swab test for sex, followed by the usual regular banned substances tests.
I doubt that it will ever be a good idea to have open categories for cheats.
As I recall, after being shocked to its foundations by the experience of fraudsteress Pope Joan, the Catholic Church’s Holy Fathers came up with a rule that any cardinal seeking the papal office must submit to having his genitals inspected for authenticity, while sitting on what amounted to a glorified lavatory seat and having them checked over from below, and judged according to certain necessarily confidential criteria.
That system appears to have worked excellently, and for centuries. The various national Olympic committees could well adopt it: with Vatican consultation and guidance, of course. And perhaps while they were at it, they could ask God why He had to create two sexes, given all the historic mayhem and confusion that disastrous decision of His has given rise to.
(Aside:) But only if He has the time. He has a lot on His plate these days.
A good first step, but this only affects US athletes. The IOC’s policy that allowed male boxers Khalif and Lin to win gold medals in the women’s division is still in place.
It won’t affect the 2026 Winter Olympics, which will be taking place in Italy, but the 2028 Olympics will be held in the USA. Now, whether or not these new rules will still be in place (given the current unpredictability of the ruling class over there) is anybody’s guess; but perhaps the world will have entirely shaken off the insanity by then anyway.
Are Olympic admission rules affected by host country’s national organization rules? Beats me.
Having trans men compete in the men’s division is a bit more uncertain, to me. But I understand that, at the elite level, the infusion of testosterone supplements WOULD be a shift in who could win, until the only Gold medalists were the ones declaring trans man status.
Of course, as far as the “How would a ban even work” question is concerned, the question is asked from within the myth that under no circumstances can you recognize a trans individual.
ANOTHER way that NYT article is bad is the way it focuses on “transgender women” and then, a few paragraphs down, mentions “intersex athletes.” Though “transgender women” are a problem at high school and college levels, in elite sports the main problem is men with DSDs, like Semenya and Khelif. These people, of course, aren’t “intersex,” and the knobs writing for the Times should have learned that by now.
The winners of the women’s 800m at the 2016 Rio Olympics (Caster Semenya, Francine Niyonsaba, and Margaret Nyairera Wambui) were all males with DSDs.