The staggering amount of medals that female competitors have lost to transgender rivals in women’s sporting categories has been revealed in a report to the United Nations.
According to a study titled “Violence against women and girls in sports,” female athletes have lost nearly 900 medals to trans competitors.
The report also states more than 600 female athletes have been bested at various events by competitors who were born biologically male.
“According to information received, by 30 March 2024, over 600 female athletes in more than 400 competitions have lost more than 890 medals in 29 different sports,” the report said.
“The replacement of the female sports category with a mixed-sex category has resulted in an increasing number of female athletes losing opportunities, including medals, when competing against males.”
RECOMMENDED VIDEO
Reem Alsalem, the UN special rapporteur on violence against women and girls, presented the wide-ranging report to the UN General Assembly earlier this month.
The paper didn’t elaborate on which sporting events the medals were won in or over what time frame the numbers were compiled from.
However, it did note that “policies implemented by international federations and national governing bodies” had allowed athletes born male to compete in women’s sporting categories.
Alsalem stated that male athletes had specific attributes, including higher strength and testosterone levels, that are advantageous in certain sports and can result in the “loss of fair opportunity” for female competitors.
She also argued that treatments to artificially suppress testosterone will not put transgender competitors on equal footing with females and may only harm the athlete taking the treatment.
“Some sports federations mandate testosterone suppression for athletes in order to qualify for female categories in elite sports. However, pharmaceutical testosterone suppression for genetically male athletes — irrespective of how they identify — will not eliminate the set of comparative performance advantages they have already acquired,” she wrote.
“This approach may not only harm the health of the athlete concerned, but it also fails to achieve its stated objective. Therefore, the testosterone levels deemed acceptable by any sporting body are, at best, not evidence-based, arbitrary and asymmetrically favour males.”
Alsalem called on the UN to implement stronger protections for women and girls in sports.
The independent expert argued that open categories should be created for sports and that “non-invasive, confidential and simple sex screenings” are necessary to guarantee fairness for women.