![cover image](https://wikiwandv2-19431.kxcdn.com/_next/image?url=https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/21/Rainbow_Olympic_rings.png/640px-Rainbow_Olympic_rings.png&w=640&q=50)
List of intersex Olympians
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
There have been 18[lower-alpha 1] modern Olympic athletes widely known to have an intersex (disorders/differences of sex development) condition, or other similar condition which has been restricted by sports authorities. The athletes may or may not identify as intersex or having a DSD; some may not be considered intersex or DSD by modern science. Athletes are included when the existence of a condition has affected their sporting career and it is publicly known.[lower-alpha 2]
An editor has nominated this article for deletion. You are welcome to participate in the deletion discussion, which will decide whether or not to retain it. |
![]() | This article needs to be updated. (October 2023) |
The 1932 Summer Olympics was the first instance of an athlete now known to be intersex competing, also winning a medal. 7 have won a medal (38.89% of intersex athletes), with 3 winning at least one gold (16.67% of intersex athletes).[lower-alpha 1] The majority of intersex Olympians have competed in athletics, generally running.[lower-alpha 1]
The Olympics have "been dealing with" – acknowledged and sought to regulate – intersex athletes since the 1930s.[1] After Zdeněk Koubek, a Czech athlete raised as a woman, transitioned to live as a man in 1935, United States Olympic Committee president Avery Brundage expressed concern over the potential for such athletes to be exploited for Olympic gain. The United States pressured the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to permit medical examinations of any athletes whose sex was questioned, which became policy in time for the 1936 Summer Olympics.[2] It did not appear to be applied in 1936, though there were some notable cases in the form of Stella Walsh and Heinrich Ratjen. Walsh's case was handled sympathetically, while Ratjen's Olympics appearance may have been deliberately dishonest.[1] In the 1960s, when systemic doping became a significant issue and it was harder to tell the difference between men and doped women, sex verification was first implemented as a requirement.[1][3] An early and inadequate test in 1967 incorrectly identified Ewa Kłobukowska as not female, seeing her previous Olympic achievements written off and her career end.[4] Between 1968 and 1998, all female athletes at the Olympics were subject to sex verification as a matter of process[3][5][6] (with the exception of Anne, Princess Royal, who competed in 1976).[7][lower-alpha 3] Until 1992, the test used was to identify chromosomes, something that had been deemed unreliable in the scientific community for decades;[3][1] Maria José Martínez-Patiño was banned from women's athletics after qualifying for the 1988 Summer Olympics, before being allowed to compete again later that year.[6][10]
Prior to the 1996 Summer Olympics, intersex Brazilian judoka Edinanci Silva had surgery to allow her to continue in women's sport. She would appear at this Games and several other editions.[1] Also competing in 1996 were eight (unknown) female athletes who were discovered to have an intersex condition upon testing (seven with androgen insensitivity); all were cleared to compete and, after the Games, the IOC abolished the universal testing so as to protect the dignity of athletes who do not already know they have these conditions.[1][3] The IOC do still perform sex testing for athletes of any gender (though invariably women) when "serious doubts" are raised.[1] In 2012, the IOC changed its mode of verification, testing for testosterone, which has also been considered unreliable and discriminatory.[6] Since 2018, World Athletics has mandated intersex women must take medications or have surgery in order to be eligible, which could prevent them from attending events that serve as Olympic qualifiers.[5] Successful intersex Olympian Caster Semenya has refused to take hormone medication, which saw her banned from participation.[11]
The suspicion-based approach has been criticised as it enables racist discrimination.[12] Various international medical and sports professionals have advocated for the abolition of sex verification in sport, and specifically the Olympics.[3][13]