This is Tupou Neiufu. She is a NZ paralympic swimmer. At two years old, she was injured in a hit a run, and left with a permanent brain injury causing hemiplegia.
She won her first Olympic gold medal at Tokyo 2020.
This is Lisa Adams. She is a NZ paralympic shotputter. She has left hemiplegia.
In 2020, she won her first Olympic gold medal and, in separate competition, set the world record for her event.
This is Sophie Pascoe. She is a NZ paralympic swimmer. At 2 yrs old, she suffered severe leg injuries, resulting in left amputation below the knee, in an accident.
She did not win her first gold medal at Tokyo 2020.
She joined an elite club of 40 athletes with 10 Olympic golds.
This is Anna Grimaldi. She is a NZ paralympic sprinter and longjumper. She was born without a functional right forearm/hand.
She jumped her way to her second Olympic gold at Tokyo 2020.
This is Holly Robinson. She is a NZ paralympic javelin thrower. She was born without a left forearm/hand.
She won her first Olympic gold at Tokyo 2020.
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Why male advantage in sport is not a social construct: height.
Height is a key difference between males and females. What is nature v nurture? What does that mean for sport?
Bigger skeletons are most obviously driven by longer bone growth. Key bones like those in your thigh (“long bones”) grow from their end to get longer, making you taller.
The site of bone lengthening is called the “epiphyseal plate” or “growth plate”. Here, cells divide/enlarge, making new tissue that pushes the bone ends apart. This tissue calcifies and is replaced by bone, leading to lengthwise growth.
Let’s set a concrete example: the 10 second barrier (100m sprint).
Wiki - allowing for small errors - tells me that around 200 male sprinters have broken it. We know, of course, that no female sprinter has been close (Flo Jo record 10.49s).
For the following, I’m going to ignore the premise that humans might be close to biomechanical limits over a 100m sprint. It’s just an illustration.
If we follow world record progressions, we see trends (not just in sprinting, the graph below is from a swimming event).
As the latest on Olympic boxer Imane Khelif is reported, a diagnosis of 5ARD is almost certain. I and others first raised the likelihood of this DSD a few months ago.
Understanding how the developmental biology of DSDs interacts with sports categorisation is crucial.
I spoke about this with Andrew Gold during the competition:
And I recently gave a talk at a meeting, on DSDs, male advantage and sports categorisation. I will add some slides below.
In August, we were invited by the Scandinavian Journal of Medicine & Science in Sports @WileyGlobal to make an argument for screening for eligibility into the female category.
We proposed a cheek swab screen of DNA, performed before an athlete is thrust into the spotlight, with follow up care in the case of unexpected results.
@WileyGlobal This month, two responses to this editorial have been published side-by-side.