Telegraph- Testosterone blockers make little difference in transgender athletes, says report


MARTYN ZIEGLER | SPORT NOTEBOOK

Testosterone blockers make little difference in transgender athletes, says report

Martyn Ziegler
Chief Sports Reporter
The Times

The male advantage over females is more pronounced in cricket, golf and tennis than in sports such as running or swimming, according to new research which also states that testosterone blockers taken by transgender women only minimally reduces that biological advantage.
The latest paper addressing transgender sport, published in the journal Sports Medicine, questions whether different sports’ rules requiring transgender women to take testosterone suppressants are effective or ethical given they appear to make little difference.
Sports which require hitting or throwing have the greatest male advantage, says the research. A golf drive, cricket bowling, and weightlifting all see a 29-43 per cent advantage for males, with more than 50 per cent advantage for a baseball pitch or hockey “drag flick”. At the other end of the table are running, rowing and swimming which all still have a significant advantage but between 10 and 13 per cent.


Numbers of transgender women at elite levels of sport are still very small, but cases such as the New Zealand weightlifter Laurel Hubbard, who won two gold medals at last year’s Pacific Games, have focused attention on their potential impact.
The paper, by Emma Hilton of the University of Manchester and Tommy Lundberg of the Karolinska Institute in Sweden, states: “Evidence shows the biological advantage, most notably in terms of muscle mass and strength, conferred by male puberty and thus enjoyed by most transgender women is only minimally reduced when testosterone is suppressed as per current sporting guidelines for transgender athletes.”

The researchers question whether sports’ rules insisting on transgender women lowering testosterone to compete “can be justified at all” if male advantage still persists, because it may pressurise athletes to take medication against their wishes.

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