‘We’re being hounded’ – French transgender sprinter decries Olympics ban

Halba Diouf french transgender athlete.Photo:Instagram

By Noemie Olive

10 May 2023

Athletes say their ambitions were dashed when World Athletics banned transgender women who have gone through male puberty from competing in women’s events, citing a ‘need to protect the female category’.

French sprinter Halba Diouf feels she is being marginalised and hounded after her dream of competing at the Paris Olympics in 2024 was shattered when World Athletics (WA) banned transgender women from elite female competitions.

Diouf had been training hard to improve her 200m time in the hope of running on home soil at the 2024 Games.

But her ambitions were dashed in March when governing body WA banned transgender women who have gone through male puberty from competing in women’s events, citing a “need to protect the female category”.

“I cannot understand this decision as transgender women have always been allowed to compete if their testosterone levels were below a certain threshold,” Diouf told Reuters.

“The only safeguard transgender women have is their right to live as they wish and we are being refused that, we are being hounded... I feel marginalised because they are excluding me from competitions.”

Halba Diouf. (Photo: Instagram)

Born in Senegal, Diouf arrived in France at the age of four. As an adult, she moved to Aix-en-Provence where she started hormone therapy to change sex, and her gender transition was recognised by French authorities in 2021.

The tighter measures imposed by WA around one of the most contentious and divisive issues in sport – how to balance inclusivity while ensuring there is no unfair advantage – follow a similar move by World Aquatics in 2022.

Discrimination?

LGBTQI+ advocacy groups say excluding trans athletes amounts to discrimination, but WA president Sebastian Coe has said: “Decisions are always difficult when they involve conflicting needs and rights between different groups, but we continue to take the view that we must maintain fairness for female athletes above all other considerations.”

Until the new rules came into force, female transgender and athletes with differences in sex development (DSD) could take part in elite events between 400m and the mile only if their levels of natural plasma testosterone was below five nanomoles per litre, though 100m and 200m sprinters were clear to race.

Read more in Daily Maverick: How world sport got into a mess over trans athletes – and how it can get out of it

World Athletics Council bans transgender women from competing in female sports events

Those rules affected DSD athletes such as two-time Olympic 800m champion Caster Semenya and Francine Niyonsaba, who finished runner-up to Semenya at the 2016 Olympics – neither were allowed to compete at the 2020 Games.

Namibia’s Christine Mboma shifted from her preferred 400m distance to the 200m in Tokyo and won a silver medal.

In March, WA’s council cut the maximum amount of plasma testosterone for DSD athletes in half to 2.5 nanomoles per litre from five. The WA rules also stated the level must be maintained for at least 24 months before DSD athletes can compete in female competitions.

Transgender athlete Halba Diouf says her Olympic dreams have been shattered. (Photo: Instagram)

Diouf’s endocrinologist, Alain Berliner, said the 21-year-old “is a woman, from a physiological, hormonal and legal point of view”.

“Her testosterone levels are currently below those found on average in women who were born as women,” he said, showing Reuters the results of her blood samples dated 2 May .

Diouf, a practising Muslim who loves shopping and wears miniskirts as well as long djellaba robes, said she had not kept any pictures of her as a boy.

“It was not me,” she said. Reuters/DM

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Discrimination?