World Athletics to Require Gene Tests for Female Runners

World Athletics will begin chromosome testing of female track and field athletes using cheek swabs or blood samples to preserve "the integrity of competition," the governing body announced Tuesday, NBC News reported.

World Athletics President Sebastian Coe said that on Tuesday, the organization will implement new genetic testing for female athletes, including cheek swabs and dry blood-spot tests to detect the presence of a "Y" chromosome. The measure is designed to maintain fairness in the women's category of track and field events.

The decision was announced following a two-day World Athletics Council meeting in Nanjing, China.

"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 said. "We feel this is a really important way of providing confidence and maintaining that absolute focus on the integrity of competition."

The new rule would require athletes to undergo the chromosome test only once in their careers. Coe said the policy revives a form of chromosome testing abandoned in the 1990s and aims to confirm eligibility for the female competition category.

It remains uncertain whether the tests will be implemented before the world championships in September. According to Coe, a testing provider will be selected, and final regulations will be drafted in the coming weeks.

Coe, a two-time Olympic gold medalist who recently failed in his bid to become president of the International Olympic Committee, has been outspoken about "protecting the female category" in sports.

He has urged the IOC to take a central role in developing rules for transgender athletes rather than allowing individual sports to set their guidelines.

In 2023, World Athletics banned transgender athletes who had transitioned from male to female and experienced male puberty from competing in the female category. Earlier this year, the organization proposed stricter eligibility criteria for athletes assigned female at birth who have naturally high testosterone levels, also known as DSD (differences in sex development) athletes.

Those recommendations followed an executive order signed by President Donald Trump barring transgender athletes from competing in girls' sports in the United States. The order also urged the International Olympic Committee to adopt similar policies ahead of the 2028 Summer Games in Los Angeles.

Asked if the organization was confident its new policy would survive legal scrutiny, Coe responded that World Athletics had already withstood multiple court challenges.

"I would never have set off down this path in 2016-2017 to protect the female category in sport" without being "prepared to take the challenge head-on," he said. "We've been to the Court of Arbitration on our DSD regulations. They have been upheld, and they have again been upheld after appeal. So we will doggedly protect the female category, and we'll do whatever is necessary to do it."