Sex, gender & sport: Clarity and compassion

In a landmark decision the International Olympic Committee (IOC) has announced that Olympic women’s sport will be limited to biological females.

It follows nearly 20 years of debate since the rise of athletes with DSD (differences in sexual development) winning World and Olympic medals. There will now be a one-off sex test, which will prevent any athletes with a Y chromosome, including transgender women and DSD athletes, except in extremely rare cases where they do not benefit from the performance-enhancing effects of testosterone, from competing in women’s categories. This slightly wordy description shows us some of the complexities in this case that we sometimes miss.

The IOC President, Kirsty Coventry said this was the result of a review “led by medical experts”. Scientific research conducted over decades overwhelmingly finds, at a population level, that those who have gone through male puberty enjoy at least a 10% advantage over those who have not.

Previously, sex eligibility regulations in Olympic sports had been left to individual sports’ governing bodies – leading to bans having already been brought in by athletics, swimming, cycling and rowing on the elite stage. Boxing, however, had not introduced such regulations, and an Algerian boxer won gold at Paris 2024 despite having previously been disqualified for reportedly failing a sex eligibility test.

Whilst often the stories and online discourse has focussed on rare cases of transgender women competing in male sports at an amateur or low elite level, this ruling has primarily come in because of DSD athletes such as South African middle-distance runner Caster Semenya, a two-time Olympic champion in the 800m. DSD is a rare condition in which a person’s hormones, genes and/or reproductive organs may be a mix of male and female characteristics. Previously, DSD athletes who may normally have testosterone levels in the normal male range could compete in women’s sport as long as they took steps to reduce the presence of the hormone. Now, they will not be able to compete in women’s categories unless their expression of DSD does not mean their physical development is affected by the presence of increased testosterone (CAIS).

God-given differences

Sporting regulations are now acknowledging what we see as reality – the fixed nature of biological sex in all but extremely rare genetic cases, and the God-given differences we see in men and women.

Interestingly, whilst there have been some loud public voices of opposition to these policies, the majority of the public have been supportive of them. These polls, alongside science, reflect a kind of common grace – echoing what as Christians we know to be true about being created male and female in God’s image: equal, and yet different.

These regulations seek to protect women’s sport by upholding both safety and fairness. The fractured conversation in sport has often centred on these two pillars, alongside the question of what place inclusion should have. Safety concerns were rightly raised in the case of boxing at Paris 2024 and, as scientists have noted, it would be extremely difficult for biological women to qualify for elite events in many sports if the balance tipped too far towards inclusion. As World Athletics chief Sebastian Coe has argued, allowing athletes to compete solely based on identity, regardless of birth sex, risks undermining women’s sport altogether.

This decision by the IOC helps to prevent that outcome and provides much-needed clarity in what has often been a confused and contested space.

Truth and compassion

As Christians, however, just because this issue may have felt clear to us from the outset, we must ensure that clarity does not come at the expense of compassion. Whilst we engage with scientific studies and sporting regulations, we must not lose sight of the individuals involved and the real suffering they experience – both those struggling with gender dysphoria and those who, from birth, have faced stigma due to DSD. Online soundbites and political commentary can easily lose this perspective and forget those who are hurting, especially when they do not take time to understand the full story.

The Apostle Paul calls us, as those who know our firm and secure identity in Christ, to clothe ourselves with “compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience”. Compassion is not blind acceptance. It allows us to hold clarity and care together. It means being rightly angered by injustice, while also responding with deep love – drawing alongside those who suffer, seeking to understand their experience, and pointing them to set their hearts “on the things above”. Ultimately, we see this most clearly in the Lord Jesus and His ministry on earth.

This vision of compassion should shape how we respond – both to those who have been wronged over the past 20 years, losing earnings and opportunities, and to those now caught up in this debate. Christians can continue to be clear about the need to protect women’s sport and spaces, while also engaging compassionately and sensitively with the pain of those wrestling with their identity.