Gender testing returns to track, stirring up harsh memories and doubts that date to the 1980s

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"In a recent major policy overhaul, World Athletics brought back the test this year, requiring any athlete seeking to compete in the female category at world championships, which opened Saturday, to submit to the test by Sept. 1. The federation portrays implementation of the SRY gene test, designed to detect a Y' chromosome found in males, as a common-sense approach to tackle an issue that has bedeviled and divided sports for decades."

"The woman whose genetic test in the 1980s led sports leaders to conclude it was too intrusive, not definitive enough and, ultimately, not worth keeping, said she was faced with a sadness that I could not share after results from that test upended her life. The man who discovered the gene that led to that test being developed called it surprising that, 25 years later, there is a misguided effort to bring the test back."

The Independent covers reproductive rights, climate change and Big Tech and funds reporting through donations instead of paywalls. Donations enable journalists to report on both sides while keeping reporting freely accessible. A genetic test from the 1980s was judged intrusive, inconclusive and abandoned; a woman who took it said the results upended her life and left her saddened. The scientist who discovered the gene called efforts to revive the test misguided. World Athletics reinstated the SRY gene test, requiring athletes seeking to compete in the female category at world championships to submit by Sept. 1. Some athletes have encountered roadblocks in meeting the requirement.

Read at www.independent.co.uk