Latest news with #IAAF
Arab Times
29-07-2025
- Sport
- Arab Times
Al-Musallam announces the launch of the Athlete Retirement Compensation Program
SINGAPORE, July 29: The International Aquatics Federation (FINA) has announced significant additions to the aquatics program for the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games. The 50-meter events in breaststroke, butterfly, and backstroke have been added to the Olympic schedule. Additionally, the women's water polo tournament will be expanded to include 12 teams—matching the number of men's teams for the first time in Olympic history. The announcement was made during the FINA Congress in Singapore, held on the sidelines of the World Championships. The session was attended by prominent figures, including IOC President Christie Coventry, IOC Honorary President Dr. Thomas Bach, and FINA President Husain Al-Musallam. Al-Musallam also revealed that the federation's scholarship program has been expanded to support 111 athletes, up from 87 in 2021. For the first time, the program now includes water polo players, offering them access to training and educational opportunities. To further support athlete development, the number of FINA training centers has grown from four to six, with new facilities established in Thailand, the United States, France, Canada, Australia, and Hungary. A seventh center is slated to open soon in Bahrain, which will host more than 50 swimmers and divers and provide academic support. Highlighting the progress of the "Pools for All" initiative, Al-Musallam pointed to the success of the world's highest-altitude pool built in Bhutan last year. He confirmed that the next pools under the program will be inaugurated in the Maldives before year-end and in Granada thereafter. The federation has also made significant strides in coach and official development. Since 2021, the number of certified coaches has grown from 15 to 346, while certified technical referees have risen from 132 to 873 across 77 countries. Al-Musallam noted that financial support for national federations under the IAAF Support Program has increased by 25% over the past four years, benefiting a record 193 federations. Furthermore, 42% of the IAAF's total expenditure has been dedicated to development programs—ranking highest among all international federations. In a landmark move, Al-Musallam announced the launch of an Athlete Retirement Compensation Program, with an initial investment of $10 million. He called it a pioneering step among international federations, driven by the recommendations of a dedicated working group. Further details are expected to be shared in due course. Additionally, the IAAF has increased the prize money pool for athletes, distributing more than $12 million last year, and has adopted a gender equity policy to protect and support female athletes—setting a benchmark for other sports bodies. Despite challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, Al-Musallam stressed that the federation maintained its high standards, successfully organizing nine major events in the past four years.
Zawya
11-07-2025
- Politics
- Zawya
South Africa: Committee on Sports Apologises to Caster Semenya for Shabby Treatment at Hands of the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF)
The Portfolio Committee on Sports, Arts and Culture Chairperson, Mr Joe McGluwa, has apologised to three-time world 800-metre champion Ms Caster Semenya for the treatment she has received at the hands of the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), which has sought to unfairly criminalise her sporting ability. The committee noted the ruling of the European Court for Human Rights, which has correctly ruled that the IAAF had discriminated against Ms Semenya. 'This is vindication for the support. As the Chairperson of the committee, I was fortunate to be involved in all these controversies since 2010. Caster has stood the test of time despite being ridiculed because someone, somewhere, could not believe that a girl from Limpopo could make us proud,' Mr McGluwa said. 'We should now close this chapter once and for all as a decision had finally been made. One can only imagine how South Africa's jewel has been affected and frustrated by all of this. And for all of this, we South Africans say we apologise and we salute you,' said Mr McGluwa. Mr McGluwa said everybody should focus on the future now and, if possible, Athletics South Africa should find a way to contribute in new ways to her sport and her country. In 2021, Ms Semenya appealed to the European Court following a set of IAAF special regulations, which ordered her to lower her testosterone levels. 'We can't run away from it; Caster is talented. It will take our country a long while to produce another powerhouse athlete as her,' concluded Mr McGluwa. Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Republic of South Africa: The Parliament.
Yahoo
09-07-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
AP Top Olympic News at 12:42 a.m. EDT
A ruling this week in the Caster Semenya case could reignite the issue of sex eligibility in sports
Daily Mail
09-06-2025
- Business
- Daily Mail
British Horseracing Authority is hit by CYBER ATTACK with staff told to stay away from work as governing body is latest to fall victim to hackers
The British Horseracing Authority (BHA) has been rocked after it became the latest major organisation to fall victim to a cyberattack. Staff have been told to stay away from Southampton, buildings in Holborn — their central London headquarters — and work remotely while investigations are conducted. It is understood that the attack happened at the end of last week and there is no timescale on how long it will take their systems to be returned to normal. The incident has not threatened to stop meetings being staged at courses and no disruption to the fixture list is envisaged at this stage. The incident currently appears to be limited to the BHA's internal systems and data. Still, given the sensitive information the BHA holds, it is a hugely significant event and racing's governing body joins the International Association of Athletics Federations (2017) and FIFA (2018) in being targeted by hackers. Retail giant Marks & Spencer are still feeling the ramifications of an attack at Easter. In a statement, a BHA spokesperson said: 'We recently identified and began investigating an IT incident. We are working at pace with external specialists to determine what happened in more detail and safely restore our systems.
Buzz Feed
09-06-2025
- Sport
- Buzz Feed
11 Mind-Blowing Facts About Sex Testing In Athletics
Hormone testing has long been a source of controversy in sports. Female athletes are tested for hormonal and genetic 'defects' to ensure athletes do not have an 'unfair advantage' over one another. Not only is it misogynistic; it is also unfair. Athletes like Caster Semenya, Imane Khelif, and many more have been subjected to humiliating tests—all in the public eye—that supposedly determine their sex. The practice has been criticized time and again, as they are considered unscientific, unethical, exclusionary, and, of course, deeply intrusive. After being back in the news again last week, I decided to do a deep dive into why these tests exist in the first place, and what their impact has been. I found 11 facts that might make you cock your head to the side and go, "why?!" In 1946, the International Amateur Athletic Federation (IAAF) officially began a 'femininity check' to rule out foul play in sports events. According to this 'femininity check', athletes were required to produce certificates that proved they were eligible to participate. This was done because there were a handful of cases of ace female athletes that were accused of being male (spoiler alert: they weren't male.) Dora Ratjen, a 1936 Olympic Gold winner, was incorrectly outed as a man, Heinrich Ratjen. But he later claimed that he was forced to compete as a woman by the Nazis in order to win more medals for Germany. Thanks to the burgeoning Cold War, rumors around countries sending men in place of women to win medals for their countries were rampant—which is why Ratjen's story gained prominence, years later. But documents released after Ratjen's death in 2008 showed that he was not a man— his gender was 'uncertain', which reduced his claim to mere conspiracy. Ratjen's gender was mixed from birth, and his parents had raised him as a girl. The first gender 'frauds' in international sport were identified as a British shot putter, and a Czechoslovakian runner. Two popular cases came up during this discourse: that of Mark Weston, and Zdenek Koubek. Koubek had previously set a world record in the women's 800-meter dash before declaring that he was to transition into a man. The first 'scientific' sex tests, called 'nude parades', were introduced in 1966, where a panel of female doctors would examine the athletes' genitals and secondary sex characteristics. Several athletes of the time have talked about how intrusive and humiliating these tests used to be. The worst part? Any female athlete who refused to undergo the test was automatically out of the competition. These tests lasted two years, till the IAAF decided to go for less intrusive methods of testing one's gender (spoiler alert: that also didn't work.) From the late 1960s to the 1990s, female athletes were tested on the basis of genetics—and given femininity certificates. Any woman who competed in any sport in the Olympics had to carry this certificate—which looked like a card, that confirmed their 'gender'. A Spanish hurdler, Maria José Martínez Patiño, was the first athlete to formally protest the chromosome test, which was adopted after the sex tests of the 60s. Known as the Barr Body test, it was administered to check if the athlete had male or female chromosomes. When Martínez Patiño's test came back abnormal, she was asked to was only after a detailed investigation that they found androgen insensitivity syndrome (AIS), where she was genetically male (XY), but physiologically female. Her body couldn't use the testosterone, leaving her with lower levels than most women. She fought against the disqualification, and was eventually reinstated with all her titles intact. Princess Anne was excused from the gender test at the 1976 Montreal Olympics. In 1992, the IAAF removed all forms of gender verification in favor of doping tests. Doping tests analyse the presence of certain drugs in the athlete's urine, blood, sweat, or saliva, that are deemed as performance enhancers. A failed sex verification test sent Santhi Soundarajan, the first Indian athlete to undergo a sex verification test, on the verge of suicide—showcasing the devastating effect of these tests on female athletes. The talented middle-distance runner was stripped off her medal in 2006. after her failed verification test. After this news became public, she faced immense scrutiny and public humiliation, to the point where she attempted suicide. In 2016, however, she was diagnosed with androgen insensitivity syndrome (AIS), a condition much like Maria José Martínez Patiño's. In a landmark ruling, Indian sprinter Dutee Chand's case against the IAAF showed how flawed these hormone tests truly were. When sprinter Dutee Chand was expelled from international competitions thanks to a failed sex test, she reached out to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) to fight. She challenged the IAAF's rules around elevated testosterone levels, which they believed gave female athletes an added advantage. The CAS eventually ruled in her favor, saying there was no sufficient evidence that high testosterone improved athletic performance, and Dutee was allowed to participate again. And finally: despite the supposed concerns about 'fairness' in sport, no case of males impersonating females has been identified.
