Sebastian Coe
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) needs to improve rules on transgender and DSD (differences in sex development) athletes to “protect female sport”, says World Athletics president Lord Coe.
Britain’s two-time Olympic 1500m champion Coe, 68, is one of seven confirmed candidates hoping to succeed Thomas Bach as IOC president next March. His comments come after Algeria’s Imane Khelif won women’s welterweight boxing gold at the Paris Games in the summer, a year after being disqualified from the World Championships for reportedly failing gender eligibility tests.
“I think the International Olympic Committee needs a very, very clear policy in this space,” Coe told BBC sports editor Dan Roan.
“And the protection of the female category, for me, is absolutely non-negotiable. “If you are not prepared to do that, and that is where the international federations expect a lead to be taken, then you really will lose female sport and I’m not prepared to see that happen. “I’m not sure that policy is clear enough at the moment.”
The gender eligibility tests were conducted by the Russian-led International Boxing Association (IBA), which was later stripped of its world governing body status by the IOC over integrity and governance issues.
The IBA said Khelif “failed to meet the eligibility criteria for participating in women’s competition”.
The IOC questioned the legitimacy and credibility of the IBA’s tests, saying they could not be relied upon.
Khelif and Taiwan’s Lin Yu-ting, who was also banned by the IBA, were both cleared to compete at the Olympics by the IOC. Both have insisted they are women. There is no suggestion they are transgender. Coe said the situation in Paris had made him feel “uncomfortable”.In a wide-ranging interview, Coe also spoke of how he has been “in training for life” for the presidency of the IOC, the fundamental challenges facing the Olympic movement, prize money in sport and building a relationship with US President-elect Donald Trump – with the next Games scheduled to take place in Los Angeles in 2028.
(BBC sport)
