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Transsexual Olympic Athetes

Mr. Anderson said:
http://edition.cnn.com/2004/SPORT/05/17/olympics.transsexual/index.html

Without getting into the moral issues here (its a personal thing as far as I'm concerned) I think that there will be some ongoing debate on this - especially if a woman-who-used-to-be-a-man wins a medal.

As if the Olympics didn't have enough controversy with drugs and security ;)

D
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I guess its like plastic surgery in beauty contests.

Back in the day the eastern block nations were accused of doing it. It kinda sucks for some of the people in the past. There was woman who was an XY but due to a genetic defect (there is 1 gene on the fathers sex chromosome which can make an X function like a Y or vice versa) was a fully functional woman and was banned from the olympics.

What are we going to do in 20 years when there are genetically engineered people entered who naturally have twice the muscle mass?
 
Mr. Anderson said:
Without getting into the moral issues here (its a personal thing as far as I'm concerned) I think that there will be some ongoing debate on this - especially if a woman-who-used-to-be-a-man wins a medal.
Click to expand...

and undoubtedly, it will happen. i was a swimmer at one of the slower NCAA div. I schools. yet there's been less than 10 women in history who swam my specialty event faster than my best time...

apparently, current IOC rules already allow a person to compete after a sex change. this provision was added to define policies for extraneous cases such as genetic defect repaired by surgery, as mongo alluded to...
 
MongoTheGeek said:
What are we going to do in 20 years when there are genetically engineered people entered who naturally have twice the muscle mass?
Click to expand...
Hmmm... a sport that is a mixture of Ultimate Fighting and Robot Wars?

And as far as transexuals in the olympics, these rules are very specific regarding length of hormone treatment (post-op). Supposedly the two year treatment cycle is enough to gain/reduce the muscle mass to the appropriate level for your sex.
 
It's a very sad situation for the individual. Why even make this an issue. If the person qualifies, then let them compete.
 
mactastic said:
And as far as transexuals in the olympics, these rules are very specific regarding length of hormone treatment (post-op). Supposedly the two year treatment cycle is enough to gain/reduce the muscle mass to the appropriate level for your sex.
Click to expand...

but how do you monitor that?

skip a few treatments and what then?

its a tough call....

D
 
For the most part, it seems like it will be a non-issue, due to the strict rules about hormone treatment. But there could be some interesting cases. What if Yao Ming became a woman? She would still have the male skeletal size, which is off the percentile charts for men but would be way off the charts for women. Would it be fair to face her in the post for every other woman in the world? I pose this as a hypothetical.
 
this shouldn't be an issue. if they're that good, let them compete. maybe the hormone treatment is necessary, but at least they can compete.
 
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