Tobi Amusan Among Female Athletes to Undergo Mandatory Gender Test Ahead of 2025 World Championships
Ahead of the 2025 World Athletics Championships in Tokyo, World Athletics has announced that all female competitors, including Nigeria’s sprint hurdler and world record holder Tobi Amusan, will be required to undergo a genetic gender test starting September 1, 2025.
New Gender Test Policy Targets Eligibility in Women’s Sports
The global governing body for athletics introduced updated eligibility rules mandating a one-time genetic screening for female athletes. The test will check for the SRY gene—a marker typically found on the Y chromosome—using either a cheek swab or blood sample.
World Athletics President Sebastian Coe defended the decision during a recent press briefing, emphasizing the organization’s stance on biology as the basis for fair competition.
“We are saying, at elite level, for you to compete in the female category, you have to be biologically female,” Coe stated. “Gender cannot trump biology.”
This new standard consolidates existing rules for transgender athletes and competitors with Differences of Sex Development (DSD) into a single policy, aimed at preserving the integrity of women’s sports.
Spotlight on Tobi Amusan
Amusan, who won the world title in 2022 and still holds the 100m hurdles world record, is currently preparing for the Nigerian Championships in Lagos (August 1–3).
The event serves as a warm-up before she takes the stage in Tokyo on September 13.
While the new policy isn’t set to take effect until September, the inclusion of elite athletes like Amusan in the testing pool has already sparked global debate. Concerns over privacy, dignity, and the broader impact on women’s sports have been widely discussed on social media and within athletic communities.
World Athletics has acknowledged the sensitivity of the issue and thanked national federations for their cooperation. The organization insists the policy is about ensuring fairness—not exclusion.
