Latest news with #WorldAthletics'
STV News
23-04-2025
- Sport
- STV News
World Athletics sets 40% rule for female membership on national boards
National track and field federation executive boards must be at least 40% female by 2029, World Athletics has said. The sport's global governing body published further details of its three-year gender leadership strategy on Tuesday, having achieved gender parity on its ruling council in 2023. World Athletics also wants at least 40% of Level 1-qualified coaches to be women by 2029, with an interim goal of reaching 35% by 2027. It has also targeted at least 40% of team coaches being female at the 2030 Under-20 Championships, and for an equal gender balance among international technical officials (ITOs) at the 2027 World Championships in Beijing and the track and field programme at the Los Angeles Olympic Games in 2028. World Athletics president Lord Sebastian Coe said: 'I am incredibly proud of the progress we've made to date to increase female representation in athletics – highlighted by our 50/50 gender balanced council. 'This strategy reflects our continued commitment toward ensuring women are not only present but prominent in leadership and decision-making roles across our sport. 'We know challenges remain in getting more female coaches, referees and administrators into athletics but we are committed to equality and opportunity to drive lasting change across the athletics community worldwide.' Last month World Athletics approved the introduction of a cheek swab test to determine if an athlete is biologically female, with Coe insisting it was part of a 'dogged' determination to protect the female category. The PA news agency understands World Athletics' intention is to introduce the testing in time for this year's World Championships in Tokyo. Get all the latest news from around the country Follow STV News Scan the QR code on your mobile device for all the latest news from around the country
Express Tribune
15-03-2025
- Business
- Express Tribune
Athletics prize money model insufficient: Coe
World Athletics' decision to start offering prize money to Olympic champions should not be seen as a template for all other sports, the body's chief Sebastian Coe, who runs for president of the International Olympic Committee, said on Friday. Coe, a former Olympic champion who also led the 2012 London Olympics, is one of seven candidates campaigning to replace outgoing IOC chief Thomas Bach, with the vote set for March 20 at the body's session in Greece. World Athletics announced its prize money for gold medallists decision unilaterally ahead of last year's Paris Games without consultation with the IOC, of which Coe is a member, or other international sports federations. The decision angered the IOC and some federations at the time which opposed such a move, saying not all athletes were benefiting from it. World Athletics has said it will offer prize money to all medallists in the sport at the Los Angeles 2028 Olympics. "Prize money was implemented by the sport in response to a very specific issue in track and field," Coe said in a conference call with news agencies, adding track and field athletes were being recruited by other sports. "We gave them (an) incentive to remain in the sport." The Briton, however, said should he win the election next week he would not enforce such a model for other sports. "Nobody in the Olympic landscape should conclude that because I had a mandate in World Athletics... that this is a one-size-fits-all. That I suddenly walk straight into the (IOC) office in Lausanne next week and tell everybody they are taking prize money," he said. "Absolutely not. I would encourage the discussion about what more can we do to create true and genuine commercial partners out of our athletes." "Nobody should run away with the idea of a one-size-fits-all. It is a collaborative discussion," Coe added. Coe is up against multiple Olympic swimming champion Kirsty Coventry, who is Zimbabwe's sports minister, as well as Spaniard Juan Antonio Samaranch, son of the late former IOC president.
Associated Press
13-02-2025
- Sport
- Associated Press
Norway's Ingebrigtsen sets world record in the indoor mile days after Nuguse's mark
LIEVIN, France (AP) — Norway's Jakob Ingebrigtsen set a world record in the indoor mile Thursday, beating Yared Nuguse's mark set just five days earlier at the Millrose Games. The two-time Olympic champion also set the world indoor 1,500 meter record at the Meeting Hauts-de-France Pas-de-Calais Trophée EDF in northern France. Ingebrigtsen crossed the finish line in 3 minutes, 45.14 seconds, improving on Nuguse's 3:46.63 in New York. Along the way, he hit 1,500 meters in 3:29.63, taking almost a second off the mark he set on the same track in 2022. 'It feels amazing,' the 24-year-old Ingebrigtsen said in World Athletics' announcement of the records. 'This is what happens in Lievin. I'm a very happy man. You have to be focused for the whole race. It's tough, but it's worth it.' Both records are subject to ratification. Ingebrigtsen won gold in the 5,000 meters at the Paris Olympics last summer after winning the 1500 meters at the Tokyo Olympics. ___
Reuters
10-02-2025
- Sport
- Reuters
World Athletics planning amendments to female eligibility guidelines
Feb 10 (Reuters) - World Athletics has begun a consultation period for an updated set of regulations for transgender and difference of sex development (DSD) athletes, with a cheek swab test among a number of proposals being considered, the governing body said on Monday. In 2023, track and field's global governing body voted to ban transgender women who have gone through male puberty from competing in women's events and announced the formation of a working group to further study the issue of trans inclusion. In the findings announced by the working group on Monday, it said exclusively basing the regulations on whether or not an athlete had gone through male puberty was wrong. "New evidence clarifies that there is already an athletically significant performance gap before the onset of puberty," it added. "The childhood or pre-pubertal performance gap in the sport of athletics specifically is three to five percent in running events, and higher in throwing and jumping events. "New evidence establishes that athletic disadvantages associated with female body structure and physiology contribute to the performance gap." The working group laid out five recommendations, including formally affirming the design of the female category, revising eligibility regulations and adopting a pre-clearance requirement for all athletes competing in the category. It also suggested putting female DSD athletes - like double Olympic 800-metre champion Caster Semenya - under the same set of rules as transgender athletes. Under World Athletics' current rules, female DSD athletes must lower their level of testosterone to below 2.5 nmol/L for at least six months to compete. This can be done medically or surgically. "The current TG regulations exclude transgender women who have experienced male puberty, while the DSD Regulations provide that XY DSD athletes with the same experience are included," the working group said. The working group recommended the use of a sex screening method like a cheek swab or dry blood spot analysis for athletes wishing to compete in the elite female category, which would test for the male-determining SRY gene. The consultation period for the working group's proposal began on Monday and will continue until March 5. 'CLEAR POLICIES' World Athletics boss Sebastian Coe said it was vital for the guidelines to be updated. "World Athletics is a leader in preserving the female category in sport and one of the first international sports federations to establish clear policies on female eligibility in elite sport...," he added. "Preserving the integrity of competition in the female category is a fundamental principle of the sport of athletics and we look forward to this collaborative consultation process with our key stakeholders in this area." Transgender inclusion in sport has been widely discussed in recent weeks after U.S. President Donald Trump this month signed an executive order attempting to exclude transgender girls and women from female sports. Transgender advocacy groups say excluding trans athletes amounts to discrimination. Critics of transgender inclusion in women's sport say going through male puberty imbues athletes with a huge musculo-skeletal advantage that transition does not mitigate.
The Guardian
10-02-2025
- Sport
- The Guardian
World Athletics plans tougher rules for transgender and DSD athletes
World Athletics is poised to introduce tougher rules for transgender and difference of sex development (DSD) athletes, including a cheek swab test for all elite athletes who want to compete in the female category. The recommendations from the World Athletics council are based on recent scientific research, which it says shows the male advantage exists even before puberty. Under World Athletics' existing rules, introduced in March last year, anyone who has undergone male puberty is barred from the female category – after research reported that transgender women retained an advantage in strength, endurance, power and lung capacity, even after taking medication to suppress their testosterone. However, the governing body of track and field now wants to further toughen its policy because of 'new evidence which clarifies there is already an athletically significant performance gap before the onset of puberty'. 'The childhood or pre-pubertal performance gap in the sport of athletics specifically is 3 to 5% in running events, and higher in throwing and jumping events,' it adds. 'New evidence establishes that athletic disadvantages associated with female body structure and physiology contribute to the performance gap.' The World Athletics' president, Sebastian Coe, said the move was designed to 'ensure that our guidelines keep up with the latest information available to maintain a fair and level-playing field in the female category'. 'Preserving the integrity of competition in the female category is a fundamental principle of the sport of athletics and we look forward to this collaborative consultation process with our key stakeholders in this area,' he added. Most significantly, World Athletics wants to adopt what it calls a 'pre-clearance requirement for all elite athletes competing in the female category' – which, in essence, is a one-time non-invasive cheek swab test. 'The required test will be for the SRY gene and, if required, testosterone levels, either via cheek swab with any necessary follow-up or via dry blood spot analysis,' World Athletics says in its consultation document. 'In this context, the SRY gene, which is almost always on the Y chromosome, is used as a highly accurate proxy for biological sex but makes room for an additional diagnostic process at the athlete's discretion.' Sign up to The Recap The best of our sports journalism from the past seven days and a heads-up on the weekend's action after newsletter promotion World Athletics says the cheek-test proposal was recommended by the special rapporteur's report on female eligibility to the UN general assembly in October 2024 and is supported by many athletes. 'Available surveys of both the general population and elite female athletes show strong opposition, either steady or growing, to XY athletes competing in the female category.' As thing stands, DSD athletes are allowed to compete in the female category, providing they lower their testosterone levels to 2.5 n/mol. Those athletes, including Caster Semenya, have undergone male puberty but were reported as female at birth. World Athletics, however, now proposes that there should be the same rules for DSD and transgender athletes as 'new evidence has also clarified that testosterone suppression in 46XY DSD and 46XY transgender individuals can only ever partly mitigate the overall male advantage in the sport of athletics'. The recommendations have been sent out to stakeholders for consultation but are expected to be implemented later this year.
