World Athletics President Sebastian Coe has said the IOC's decision in March to introduce testing for gender to determine eligibility to compete in the female category, preventing transgender women from competing, is a "very important development for the Olympic movement."

The screening will mean Olympic women's sports from the 2028 Los Angeles Games will be limited to biological females, which would also rule out those with differences in sexual development.

WA had already announced last July they were introducing the SRY gene test.

"You know, I didn't come into World Athletics for a popularity contest, I came in to do what I think is the right thing," said Coe ahead of the World Athletics Relays being hosted in Gaborone, Botswana.

"I'm delighted that the world is beginning to see it the way we did, but I think it's a very important development for the Olympic movement, and I celebrate that."

The announcement by the IOC of the reintroduction of the testing for the SRY gene did not meet with universal approval with French Sports Minister Marina Ferrari saying it was "a step backwards."

Andrew Sinclair, the scientist who discovered the gene, had said even ahead of the decision the idea that the biological sex be entirely defined by chromosomes is "overly simplistic." (AFP)



Edited by Robert Kemp