Roviel Detanamo, Tania Edwards and Angie Marino all lost their places in the 2021 Olympics to male athletes.
Dear Mark Drakeford
You propose dialogue and understanding to answer the questions about trans gender inclusion in female sport. We would welcome a dialogue with you. Like you, we favour inclusion. That is made possible in sport by creating categories for different bodies. Children compete in age groups because otherwise they would be disadvantaged. Older athletes find meaningful competition through masters events with their own age group. In combat sports, weight classes are used too. But the category most commonly used in sport, the one with its own section in the UK Equality Act, is sex. Male puberty confers so great an advantage in gender-affected sport that it is not fair – and in some sports not safe – to have male and female bodies in the same events. There is an average sex performance gap of at least 10%, and in some sports up to 50%, while races are won by fractions of one percent. Without sex categories, all sport would be male sport. There would be no female Olympians or World Champions. The few exceptions like equestrian and shooting only prove the rule. Continue reading “An open letter to Mark Drakeford from Fair Play for Women”
