Category: Athletics

Trans athletes and those with DSD must be treated with respect, and the new testing regime must be run with sensitivity. But this is a step forward

The decision by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to exclude transgender women and most athletes with differences of sex development (DSD) from women’s Olympic sport has won praise from most major sports bodies but criticism from some activist groups.

It also closes the door on a period where often well-intentioned inclusivity came at the expense of sportswomen, and those who pointed out that the rules were not fair.

Tanya Aldred writes about sport for the Guardian

• Rand won gold, silver and bronze medals at Tokyo 1964

• Mary Peters pays tribute to ‘most gifted athlete ever’

Mary Rand, the British track and field athlete who blazed a trail for women by winning three Olympic medals at the Tokyo Games in 1964, has died at the age of 86.

Rand was one of the giants of her sport: the epitome of speed, power and grace. Her long jump victory in Tokyo made her Britain’s first female Olympic gold medallist in athletics, and she followed it up with a silver in the pentathlon and a bronze in the 4x100m relay.