sex testing in sport

Genetic testing of athletes to determine their sex. Since 1968, the International Olympic Committee has required all female athletes competing in the Olympics to provide genetic evidence of their sex, in response to concerns that some ‘female’ athletes were in fact male or intersexual (see intersex).

In 1932, US sprinter Stella Walsh won the 100-metre title. She was later shot dead at a robbery, and during an autopsy she was found to have male genitalia. Whether she was intersexual or had pretended to be a woman is not known. In 1934, Czech 800-metre runner Zdenka Koubkowa broke the world record and was subsequently diagnosed as intersexual. The first athlete to fail the genetic sex test was Polish runner Eva Klobukskowa who, despite female genitalia, was found to have an extra male chromosome, and was banned from competition.