All transgender athletes now face being banned from competing in women’s sports, an international sports governing body confirmed.

The move comes after FINA, an international federation focusing on water sports, effectively voted to block trans swimmers from women’s races.

As the governing body argued, swimmers who undergo male puberty gain a physical advantage over swimmers who were born females. The federation also ruled that trans swimmers who transitioned before puberty, or before the age of 12, could still qualify for female competitions.

Now, World Athletics, an international sports governing body, confirmed that it might follow suit and ban trans athletes from tracks and fields as well.

Though World Athletics previously ruled that trans athletes may compete against biological women if their testosterone has been below 5 nmol/L for at least one year in a row, the federation appears to have been emboldened to crack down on transgender athletes.

“We see an international federation asserting its primacy in setting rules, regulations and policies that are in the best interest of its sport. This is as it should be,” World Athletics President Sebastian Coe said in reaction to FINA’s ruling.

“We have always believed, and repeated constantly, that biology trumps gender and we will continue to review our regulations in line with this.”

He continued: “We have always said our regulations in this area are a living document, specific to our sport and we will follow the science.

“We continue to study, research and contribute to the growing body of evidence that testosterone is a key determinator in performance and have scheduled a discussion on our DSD and Transgender regulations with our council at the end of the year.”

The federation’s president went on to insist that it was his responsibility to “protect the integrity of women’s sport” and make protocol adjustments accordingly.

“If we ever get pushed into a corner to that point where we’re making a judgement about fairness or inclusion, I will always fall down on the side of fairness,” he insisted.

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