World Athletics in hot water
World Athletics is in hot water after the latest findings revealed that the rules they invoke to exclude athletes are actually misleading.
LIMBA MUPETAMI
WINDHOEK
The controversial rules which stopped the likes of South Africa’s Caster Semenya and Namibia’s Christine Mboma and Beatrice Masilingi from competing at the Tokyo Olympic Games are being questioned after fresh findings revealed that the testosterone regulations which helped prohibit athletes with Differences of Sexual Development (DSD) from competing could have been misleading.
The rules exclude women whose testosterone levels exceed 5 nmol/L from international events run between 400 metres and one mile in World Athletics’ female category unless they take hormone-lowering medication or have surgery.
The evidence, gathered by two World Athletics (WA) scientists in 2017, found a 1.8% performance increase over 800 metres in women with high testosterone levels, and a 2.7% increase over 400 metres.
However, according to the Telegraph, the British Journal of Sports Medicine, which had published the original evidence, has now released a correction to that 2017 paper.
We were wrong
“To be explicit, there is no confirmatory evidence for causality in the observed relationships reported. We acknowledge that our 2017 study was exploratory.
“With this in mind, we recognise that statements in the paper could have been misleading by implying a causal inference,” wrote Stephane Bermon, director of WA health and science department, and his predecessor Pierre-Yves Garnier.
They further explained that “specifically, ‘female athletes with high testosterone levels have a significant competitive advantage over those with low testosterone in 400 m, 400 m hurdles, 800 m, hammer throw, and pole vault’.
“This statement should be amended to: ‘High testosterone levels in female athletes were associated with higher athletic performance over those with low testosterone in 400 m, 400 m hurdles, 800 m, hammer throw, and pole vault’.”
The scientists conclude that their findings are “on a lower level of evidence” and should be viewed as “exploratory, nothing else, that is, not confirmatory or evidence for a causal relationship”.
With these findings, Semenya’s legal representatives are calling for the regulation to be scrapped to allow the athlete to get back on the track.
Semenya has refused to comply with the rules, which wanted her to alter her body.
Correct the mistake
In the same article in the Telegraph, Roger Pielke Jr, one of three scientists who published a 2019 International Sports Law Journal paper, said the evidence was “flawed” and that the latest admission meant the rule should be suspended immediately.
“Corrections are common in research, as scientists are human and make mistakes, like anyone else,” he said.
“But one of the most important features of science is that it is self-correcting, and mistakes are identified, admitted and corrected.
“But the correction published is not simply the admission of an error, it is an admission of error by WA in the only empirical analysis which underpins its eligibility regulations for female athletes. The implications are massive.
“The correction offered today provides a very public test of the integrity of WA. The organisation chose to base its regulation on a set of scientific claims. It now admits that those claims were wrong and potentially misleading.
“Doing the right thing in support of the athletes that it represents means changing course when the facts warrant,” he added.
The president of the Namibia National Olympic Committee, Abner Xoagub, confirmed that he too saw reports of the latest findings and that they will meet with various stakeholders next week to discuss the way forward for Mboma and Masilingi.
“We will have a meeting next week. We will engage the government as well, so that we discuss the aspects each entity will take on. There will be legal costs involved in all of this, so we need to discuss how we are approaching this,” he said.
-Additional information Telegraph
WINDHOEK
The controversial rules which stopped the likes of South Africa’s Caster Semenya and Namibia’s Christine Mboma and Beatrice Masilingi from competing at the Tokyo Olympic Games are being questioned after fresh findings revealed that the testosterone regulations which helped prohibit athletes with Differences of Sexual Development (DSD) from competing could have been misleading.
The rules exclude women whose testosterone levels exceed 5 nmol/L from international events run between 400 metres and one mile in World Athletics’ female category unless they take hormone-lowering medication or have surgery.
The evidence, gathered by two World Athletics (WA) scientists in 2017, found a 1.8% performance increase over 800 metres in women with high testosterone levels, and a 2.7% increase over 400 metres.
However, according to the Telegraph, the British Journal of Sports Medicine, which had published the original evidence, has now released a correction to that 2017 paper.
We were wrong
“To be explicit, there is no confirmatory evidence for causality in the observed relationships reported. We acknowledge that our 2017 study was exploratory.
“With this in mind, we recognise that statements in the paper could have been misleading by implying a causal inference,” wrote Stephane Bermon, director of WA health and science department, and his predecessor Pierre-Yves Garnier.
They further explained that “specifically, ‘female athletes with high testosterone levels have a significant competitive advantage over those with low testosterone in 400 m, 400 m hurdles, 800 m, hammer throw, and pole vault’.
“This statement should be amended to: ‘High testosterone levels in female athletes were associated with higher athletic performance over those with low testosterone in 400 m, 400 m hurdles, 800 m, hammer throw, and pole vault’.”
The scientists conclude that their findings are “on a lower level of evidence” and should be viewed as “exploratory, nothing else, that is, not confirmatory or evidence for a causal relationship”.
With these findings, Semenya’s legal representatives are calling for the regulation to be scrapped to allow the athlete to get back on the track.
Semenya has refused to comply with the rules, which wanted her to alter her body.
Correct the mistake
In the same article in the Telegraph, Roger Pielke Jr, one of three scientists who published a 2019 International Sports Law Journal paper, said the evidence was “flawed” and that the latest admission meant the rule should be suspended immediately.
“Corrections are common in research, as scientists are human and make mistakes, like anyone else,” he said.
“But one of the most important features of science is that it is self-correcting, and mistakes are identified, admitted and corrected.
“But the correction published is not simply the admission of an error, it is an admission of error by WA in the only empirical analysis which underpins its eligibility regulations for female athletes. The implications are massive.
“The correction offered today provides a very public test of the integrity of WA. The organisation chose to base its regulation on a set of scientific claims. It now admits that those claims were wrong and potentially misleading.
“Doing the right thing in support of the athletes that it represents means changing course when the facts warrant,” he added.
The president of the Namibia National Olympic Committee, Abner Xoagub, confirmed that he too saw reports of the latest findings and that they will meet with various stakeholders next week to discuss the way forward for Mboma and Masilingi.
“We will have a meeting next week. We will engage the government as well, so that we discuss the aspects each entity will take on. There will be legal costs involved in all of this, so we need to discuss how we are approaching this,” he said.
-Additional information Telegraph
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