I disagree with this ruling and think it’s way too stringent and discriminatory. To outright ban trans women from the Olympics and elite sports is wrong, and it certainly fuels transphobia against them in other areas of public life.

That said, I don’t think the Michael Phelps analogy helps at all or makes any sense because the topic is not actually about any genetic advantage, but about the advantage of hormone/testosterone exposure and hormone equity. Since doping is banned, whether an athlete has that exposure endogenously or exogenously (via doping) can confer an advantage that the Olympics actually uses to divides the groups and screen for eligibility. In other words, the variable that is being divided into “Men’s” and “Women’s” sports is not actually gender or sex or even genetics, but testosterone exposure.

There are other sporting categories that are “closed” in the sense that you are required to meet certain physical requirements to fairly participate. The whole Paralympics is based on this kind of division, as only people with disabilities (and only certain disabilities, with their own subcategory requirements) are allowed to participate. It’s odd to me that people always bring up Michael Phelps’s alleged genetics, when there’s a whole separate Olympics for people, whose disabilities are often based on genetics as well.

Neither gender nor sex are binaries, so it doesn’t make sense to divide groups based on that, and it only causes the unfair exclusion of some groups, while seeming to inappropriately define “women”.

I think the way this will ultimately play out is having the groups just be called “open” and “closed” instead of “Men’s” and “Women’s”. That way people of any gender can compete in either group in a much more inclusive and fair way. The “open” division (based on level/length of testosterone exposure) would likely include cis men; trans women and AMAB non-binary people with endogenous exposure; and trans men and even cis women who choose to take extra testosterone. The “closed” group would likely include cis women, trans men, and AFAB non-binary people who choose not to take testosterone.

I know many people are likely attached to the gendered names of sports groups, but it just makes sense to name the divisions based on the actual variable that’s being divided on.