2 d. ago World Athletics to require chromosome testing of athletes in women's track and field

World Athletics president Sebastian Coe says the track and field’s governing body has approved the introduction of cheek swabs and dry blood-spot tests for female athletes in order to maintain “the integrity of competition.”

Politics

3 d. ago Transgender athletes stamped out of sport as new bombshell rules force women to prove their birth gene amid pressure from Trump

World Athletics president Sebastian Coe said the decision taken by the World Athletics Council was further evidence his organization would 'doggedly' protect the female category.

Events

3 d. ago Former NFL coach pleads not guilty over alleged hacking of athletes’ intimate photos

Matt Weiss worked for Ravens before joining Michigan Women file additional lawsuit over alleged hackA judge entered a not guilty plea Monday for a former Baltimore Ravens and University of Michigan assistant football coach who is charged with hacking into the computer accounts of thousands of college athletes to find intimate images, primarily of women.Matt Weiss’s appearance in federal court in Detroit was brief and came four days after a 14-page indictment was filed. He is accused of unauthorized computer access and identity theft from 2015 until early 2023. Weiss and his attorney, Douglas Mullkoff, waived a public reading of the indictment and later declined to comment on the case. Continue reading...

Culture

7 d. ago New Olympics chief Kirsty Coventry backs blanket ban for trans athletes from all female events

Former Zimbabwean Olympic swimmer Kirsty Coventry, 41, was today elected as the new Olympics chief, pipping Lord Sebastian Coe and Juan Antonio Samaranch to the position.

Politics

9 d. ago Trump administration pauses $175m in funds to UPenn over trans athlete policy

White House official reportedly calls funding freeze ‘just a taste of what could be coming’ for Ivy League universityUS politics live – latest updatesThe Trump administration has paused $175m in federal funding to the University of Pennsylvania over its inclusion of transgender athletes in women’s college sports.Citing an unnamed “senior administration official”, Fox Business said the pause was “not a direct result” of a Title IX investigation into the University of Pennsylvania’s transgender athletes policy that was announced by the federal Department of Education in February. Continue reading...

Politics

1 week ago Olympic boxing gender row a result of Russian fake news, claims IOC chief

Thomas Bach criticises ‘fake news campaign from Russia’Two boxers competed in Paris under cloud of controversyA gender row involving two female boxers at the Paris 2024 Olympics was the result of a Russian fake news campaign and had little to do with reality, the International Olympic Committee president, Thomas Bach, said on Saturday. Bach, who is stepping down in June after 12 years in the biggest job in world sports, said the IOC had needed to fight off many similar campaigns before and after the Paris Games. The boxing competition in the Paris was run by the IOC after it stripped the International Boxing Association (IBA) of recognition last year over its failure to implement reforms on governance and finance. But the IBA, run by the Russian businessman Umar Kremlev with close links to the Kremlin, accused the IOC during the Games of allowing two female athletes, who had been banned by the IBA following a chromosome test a year earlier, to compete. A bitter war of words ensued b...

Sport

1 week ago Olympic boxing gender row a result of Russian fake news, says IOC chief

Thomas Bach criticises ‘fake news campaign from Russia’Two boxers under scrutiny won gold in Paris A gender row involving two female boxers at the Paris 2024 Olympics was the result of a Russian fake news campaign and had little to do with reality, the International Olympic Committee president, Thomas Bach, said on Saturday. Bach, who is stepping down in June after 12 years in the biggest job in world sports, said the IOC had needed to fight off many similar campaigns before and after the Paris Games. The boxing competition in the Paris was run by the IOC after it stripped the International Boxing Association (IBA) of recognition last year over its failure to implement reforms on governance and finance. But the IBA, run by the Russian businessman Umar Kremlev with close links to the Kremlin, accused the IOC during the Games of allowing two female athletes, who had been banned by the IBA after a chromosome test a year earlier, to compete.A war of words ensued between the two organisa...

Sport

2 w. ago As Wyoming slides further to the right, legislators double down on trans bills

Lawmakers proposed seven bills curbing trans rights in this legislative session. Five passedWhen Wyoming legislators in 2022 passed a law banning trans girls from competing in middle and high school girls’ sports, the Cowboy State, by its governor’s own estimate, had a grand total of four transgender student athletes competing within its boundaries.Still, in this year’s legislative session, which wrapped up on Friday, trans athletes were again a focus of lawmakers. They introduced bills to extend the ban on trans women in athletics to intercollegiate sports and ban universities from competing against teams with trans women. Continue reading...

Politics

3 w. ago Athletes on fertility, egg freezing and having it all: ‘I can have it if I want it’

Family planning in sports is no longer taboo, but elite female athletes like Kaillie Humphries and Maria Sharapova believe more open conversations should be taking placeThe cold sterility of a gynecologist’s office is about as far removed as you can get from a tennis court, a basketball gym, or a bobsled run. The crinkling white paper, the flimsy open-face gown that leaves patients vulnerable and freezing, the intimidating silver instruments laid out neatly on a table – it’s hardly an environment that feels empowering.Yet some of the highest highs and lowest lows of women’s lives take place in such rooms, just as they do on clay courts, snowy terrain or hardwood floors. It’s no small thing that women’s peak fertility coincides with their peak athletic performance. It’s a cruel twist of fate that just as professional female athletes must begin asking themselves whether they want to have children – and, if so, when and how – they are also focused on pushing their bodies to their limit...

Politics

3 w. ago ‘Stop the abuse’: Liz McColgan hits back at online criticism of daughter Eilish

Eilish McColgan is in training for London Marathon debut‘Stop the jealousy and abuse of women athletes’The Olympic silver medallist Liz McColgan has hit out at the “demeaning and abusive comments” received on social media by her daughter, Eilish, the reigning Commonwealth Games 10,000m champion.McColgan, who also won the 1991 world 10,000m title and coaches Eilish, used screenshots in a post on X to highlight comments attacking her daughter’s body shape and questioning whether she has an eating disorder. Continue reading...

Events

4 w. ago Sports are an ideal home for Donald Trump’s singular brand of ego stroking

Presidents have always used sports to further their own agendas. The current incumbent has identified exactly where he can boost himself the mostDonald Trump’s appearance at this year’s Daytona 500 was not subtle.Named the race’s grand marshal, the president buzzed the speedway from aboard Air Force One, dangling the world’s most advanced airliner above 150,000 Nascar fans the way a parent humors an infant with a spoonful of baby food. Later, from the backseat of the presidential limousine, AKA The Beast, he paced the 41-car field around the oval track before the race. The sight of that 20,000lb machine sticking to the track’s banked lanes at 70 mph blew away the crowd all over again. “This is your favorite president,” he told the drivers via their in-car radio system. “I’m a really big fan of you people. You’re talented people and great people and great Americans.” The shock and awe spectacle couldn’t have been more fitting of a man who has been taking the country for a ride since ...

Economics