British Rowing to ban transgender athletes from women’s events

Following consultation with members, British Rowing set to ban transgender athlete’s from women’s events.

The previous policy allowed transgender athletes to compete so long as they could show their testosterone serum levels were below five nanomoles per litre, despite an average range for women of between 0.5 and 2.4. The new policy will exclude any athletes that were not assigned the female gender at birth. 

Former US Olympic rower Dr Mary O’Connor has called on British Rowing to change the policy and said “There is no place for males in women’s sports. Fairness in competition is absolutely foundational in sports.” A female rower anonymously contacted The Telegraph and said “If I’m racing side by side with a male, and a male wins my event, you wouldn’t even dream of that being a possibility. You would expect someone to step in and say, ‘This isn’t OK.’”

British Rowing chairman Mark Davies has been an advocate for an open category for transgender athletes, similar to that of Triathlon, but has faced significant backlash from the board. 

The British Rowing policy change follows a number of NGBs and International Federations who have banned transgender athletes from competing in the female category.