Saying there’s no evidence that testosterone increases performance is a claim that shows a startling ignorance of the intended and actual effects of most PED’s.  That level of ignorance is absolutely ridiculous for something published on a sports blog.

I am loving the immediate response to this article as calling it what it is...deliberately misleading garbage. This is a rare moment I am proud of Deadspin commenters.

The categories “male” and “female” are essentially “open” and “restricted”. No one cares about Phelps’ “attributes” because he was in the “open” category.

Someone else used the word demagogy and I think that fits very well here. Sheesh, what the heck were you thinking writing this? Criticism/controversy of a person of African heritage is not always related to racism. This is a very complex subject almost entirely related to gender. Trying to make it about race is just…

Right? This is a pathetic, pathetic article.

Likewise, no randomized control study has ever been done to determine if maternal crack use has any effect on a developing fetus.  We've seen the effects in other ways, but clearly there are confounding variables.  Only one way to find out...

If you are going to have separate men’s and woman’s categories, you need to have a way to separate men and woman. If you do it by biological sex you are transphobic (and biological sex can’t be determined 100% of the time because it isn’t purely binary). If you do it by declared gender than you have cis-females who…

How is this racist? Crying “racism” every time anything happens that you feel disadvantages a person a color makes it so that actual racism is ignored. It makes it so that folks will start to think true racism is as phony as your claim.

Even Doyle’s article goes on to say “The truth is: the fastest men are faster than the fastest women. Some men are faster than all women and most men, but some women are also faster than most men.”

This article is an exercise in scientific illiteracy and bad journalism that’s a fitting output for Trumpistan. It demonstrates a complete and utter ignorance of the actual issue.

I’ve read a few articles on this topic here at Deadspin over the years. Clearly the way it’s being handled is not great. But it does seem like a difficult question, assuming you want to have men’s and women’s categories in sports. I’m curious: how would you propose to draw the line(s) between men/women/any other…

Agreed- the conclusion is a logical hypothesis being put forth in response to the available evidence, both scientific and otherwise. Pretending like he’s just saying that because he wants to discriminate against one particular runner is ridiculous.

“These efforts to “protect” women mean the times they run in mixed-gender competition aren’t considered Olympic qualifying times. In mixed events, women can paced by men who run faster, which could help women outpace their usual times.”

Strong second that she is being deliberately misleading here. From the linked journal article: “With the exception of the experiments performed by sports scientists in the former German Democratic Republic (2), and for obvious ethical reasons, no supplementation studies have been officially conducted so far in healthy…

“In other words, while seeking to prove that women with naturally high testosterone have an unfair advantage over their competitors, Bermon admits no one has actually studied the effects of testosterone on women’s athletic performance. Instead, he assumes that because female athletes have used synthetic testosterone,…

The very existence of women’s categories as separate from men’s is to help low testosterone athletes.

It isn’t an obsession. Allowing men to compete with women will be the end of women’s sports. For all intents and purposes Semenya has the biological makeup of a man. I’m sorry that it isn’t fair for her, but life isn’t fair for a lot of people.

What line would you draw for who can compete in women’s sports, which keeps in mind the whole point of having women-specific sporting events in the first place? What is clear to any reasonable person is that lines must be drawn, and there will always be disputes about the line. I don’t disagree with much of what you…

I duno. If Semenya does have testes — as so many suspect but we don’t know — should she be allowed to run? If having higher testosterone does indeed confer a 3% advantage, isn’t that relevant?

Categorically not racist. And not even sexist. I can see both sides of that - she had abnormally high testosterone because of a birth condition which is not normally occurring. No fault of hers, of course, but also not a level playing field - and sports assumes that there is one. That’s why there are different weight…