Disorders of Sex Development / Intersex in Women's Sports

Winners of the 2016 Rio Olympics Women's 800 Meter Race

From Left to Right

Francine Niyonsaba of Burundi, silver medalist

Margaret Nyairera Wambui of Kenya, bronze medalist

Caster Semenya of South Africa, gold medalist

Niyonsaba and Wambui have acknowledged to the press that, like Semenya, they are subject to the new rules for participation in international women's sports competition by athletes with disorders or differences of sex development (DSDs) issued by the International Association of Athletics Federation (IAAF) that were supposed to have taken effect across the board on May 8, 2019. 

In May 2018, the IAAF released documents stressing that its new DSD rules apply only to athletes who have identity documents that state they are female or intersex, and who also have ALL of the following FOUR male biological characteristics:

1) XY male sex chromosomes, not XX female sex chromosomes;

2) functioning testes, no ovaries;

3) levels of testosterone in the male range, not the much, much lower female range;

4) male-typical sensitivity to testosterone that gives them male physiological advantages in athletics.

According to the new IAAF rules, from May 8, 2019 onwards athletes with these four male characteristics must lower their testosterone in order to compete, or continue competing, as and against females in certain middle-range distance races, including the 400m and 800m. 

However, the IAAF says these athletes, and others like them, will still be allowed to run in women's races of shorter and longer distances without reducing their male levels of testosterone one iota. 

Also, in June 2019, Caster Semenya was given a temporary reprieve from the new IAAF XY DSD rules until Semenya's legal challenge to them is settled. So for the time being Semenya is being allowed to continue running in the women's 800m with Semenya's male-level testosterone entirely unchecked.