Athletics and performance enhancement have been an evolving state of competition as new guidelines are provided based on scientific research. Looking at women’s athletics, it has been deduced that boosting of testosterone levels in females leads to significant performance boosts in the athletic realm. While testosterone levels vary greatly between men and women, there was little in the way of its effects in females and performance enhancement.
//Athletic Regulation//
The International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) is a governing body for the athletics world and oversees regulation of all formal rules around competitions and record keeping. It has been around since the early 1900s and continued to grow and contribute to a standardised form athletic competition. Regulations around sex and age groups are the main groupings imposed to have level playing field. Doping has always been a central point of discussion with severe consequence to abusive competitors and endorsing team members. The latest scientific studies show that Testosterone does indeed give athletes an edge in professional sports with many advantages coming into play. Researchers note that the boost in performance also extends to greater lean muscled frames with short term exposure.
//Performance Boosting//
To many, this may not seem a revelation at all as we see Testosterone boosting being used across numerous industries, it’s the first time a formal study has been conducted to explore effects in women’s athletics. Regulations should be based on factual studies and it is a step in the right direction to understand what is fair game in modern athletic competition. While administering ‘moderate’ amounts of testosterone to female athletes, total elevation of the substance rose multiples of times yet were still well below that of normal male levels. Measured performance while under elevated conditions saw a boost over 8%, a significant margin.
//Science, Politics and Policies//
While performance gains from increased testosterone levels could be abused, the IAAF faces scrutiny of its policies with respect to athletes that have differences of sexual development (DSD), a rare condition that sees variation of sexual characteristics as a result of differing genes and hormones. Such athletes may see a natural boost in testosterone and current rulings that cap off testosterone levels in female athletes impose constant medication to regulate levels of the substance in the blood. There is much to discuss around these policies at both a scientific and political level as imposed inhibition of the natural body state has been received with great criticism, even shutting out 800m gold medallist Caster Semenya who has found an alternative path in professional football after the imposed ruling.
Sources :
https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/differences-in-sex-development/