World Athletics president Sebastian Coe describes state of women's sports as 'very fragile'

World Athletics President Sebastian Coe has described the state of women's sports as 'very fragile'. Coe's comments came as swimmer Lia Thomas of the University of Pennsylvania became the first transgender NCAA champion in Division I history by winning the women's 500-yard freestyle in Atlanta last week.

Coe further added that sports federations need to get it right while writing rules for transgender female athletes. Coe was quoted as saying in the British newspaper:

"The integrity of women's sport, if we don't get this right and, actually, the future of women's sport, is very fragile. These are sensitive issues, they are societal issues — they go way, way beyond sport. I don't have the luxury to get into endless discussions or the school of moral philosophy."

USA Swimming have unveiled a new policy, which allows transgender athletes to participate in elite events with the aim of mitigating any unfair advantages to the athletes. The rules include testing to ensure testosterone levels in transgender athletes are below a certain level when competing against cisgender female swimmers.

Coe also feels that the time period allotted by World Athletics for transgender athletes to have low testosterone levels before competition needs to change. Coe said:

"We are asking for a greater length of (time) before competition because the residual impact of transitioning like that is more profound. There is no question that testosterone is the key determinant in performance."

It's difficult to keep the emotion out of this: Sebastian Coe on transgender women competing in the female category

The performances of athletes are strongly influenced by a range of physiological factors, including muscle force, power-producing capacity, cardiorespiratory capacity, and metabolic factors, among others.

According to the International Olympic Committee’s determined criteria, a transgender woman is eligible to compete in the female category if their total serum testosterone levels are below 10 nmol/L at least 12 months prior to and during the competition.

Transgender rights in sports have long been a controversial and politically divisive issue across the globe. World Athletics President Sebastian Coe is well aware of the sensitive nature of the issue. Coe said:

"It's really difficult to keep the emotion out of this and subjectivity, so we do have to really stick as closely as we can to the science — and that's what we've always tried to do when it's been uncomfortable."

Coe added:

"You can't be oblivious to public sentiment... but science is important. If I wasn't satisfied with the science that we have and the experts that we have used and the in-house teams that have been working on this for a long time ... if I wasn't comfortable about that, this would be a very different landscape."