The British Rowing chairman has urged World Rowing to change its transgender policy ‘out of concern that hard-won progress in women’s sport is under threat’.
Mark Davies urged the sport to follow the lead of swimming federation Fina, which voted to exclude anyone over the age of 12 who has gone through male puberty from the women’s category, citing benefits in terms of strength, size, lung capacity and endurance.
Starting next year, transgender women will have to compete in an “open category” in swimming. However, most international sports, including rowing, still allow trans women to compete in the female category if they reduce their testosterone for 12 months.
Davies’ concern comes amid a new study in the British Journal of Sports Medicine, which found transgender women retain significant cardiovascular and strength benefits compared to female athletes even after taking testosterone-suppressing hormones for more than a decade .
Scientists from the University of São Paulo found that transgender women had, on average, 20.2% higher VO2max and 18.9% higher grip strength than previous women in a study looking at the effects of long-term estrogen therapy Exposure to testosterone during puberty, on athletic performance.
The study was based on a series of treadmill and hand grip tests on 15 transgender women who had been on hormone therapy for an average of 14 years. Their performance was then compared to 13 cisgender men and 14 cisgender women.
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Speaking at the World Rowing Congress, Davies said: “At British Rowing we are in the process of releasing an update to our transgender policy that will bring it into line with World Rowing’s.
“World Rowing is less protective of women’s sport than some other international sports federations such as Fina, which have adopted an open and female categories policy, which is open to anyone who has passed through male puberty – recognizing testosterone limitations does not counteract persistence effect of it.
“Would rowing look at his policies out of concern that hard-won progress in women’s sport is under threat and consider following Fina’s lead?”
Meanwhile, Alun Williams, a professor of sport and exercise genomics at Manchester Metropolitan University, said the Brazilian study suggests transgender women have an unfair advantage over female athletes.
“This new evidence does not support trans women’s suitability for the female categories of most sports,” he said. “The cardiovascular fitness test looks pretty good and the scientists have people who have had their testosterone levels lowered for years, which is unusual.
“However, there are better and more meaningful ways to test strength in sports — even something as simple as squats or bench presses. We could then build on this in a more differentiated way in the laboratory.”
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