Sex, Science, and Fairness in Women's Sports | Opinion
substantial physical advantages over women in competitive sports at the highest level. This fact led to separate male and female events in competitions like the Olympics.
Recognizing that this system doesn't accommodate transgender athletes, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) established a rule.
It decided that transgender women could compete in the female category if they kept their testosterone level below 10 nmol/L for at least a year before and during the competition.
Although the IOC hasn't fully explained the science behind this testosterone threshold, it appears to consider it enough to equalize the natural physical advantages men have over women, making competition within the female category fair.Several studies have investigated the effects of testosterone suppression on the changing physical characteristics and performance abilities of transgender women.
