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Cited by 150Sports, Gender, and SocietyGender and Feminist StudiesLGBTQ Health, Identity, and Policy

Transsexual Bodies at the Olympics: The International Olympic Committee's Policy on Transsexual Athletes at the 2004 Athens Summer Games

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Cavanagh, Sheila L., Sykes, Heather·2006·Body & Society
DOI 10.1177/1357034x06067157
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Abstract

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has always been plagued by what queer theorist Judith Butler calls gender trouble. In 2000, the IOC discontinued their practice of sex-testing because medical experts could not agree on what defined a genetic female and so an adequate medical testing measure could not be found. In response to outside pressure, the IOC adopted a policy enabling transsexual athletes to compete in the 2004 Olympic Games. This article argues that the IOC policy on sex reassignment does not operate to guard against discrimination and harassment against transsexual athletes but that it operates to maintain the popular illusion that there are two, binary gender designations. While both transsexual and Olympic bodies have unique histories and vastly different experiences in the social and political realms, using psychoanalysis we contend that the need to test gendered bodies is incited by an anxiety about bodily deterioration, aging, and, ultimately, mortality.

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  • Although permitted by the IOC since 2004, no recognized transgender athlete has participated in the Olympic Games.

    “Although permitted by the IOC since 2004, no recognized transgender athlete has participated in the Olympic Games [42].”

    From Integrating Transwomen and Female Athletes with Differences of Sex Development (DSD) into Elite Competition: The FIMS 2021 Consensus Statement (2021) · cites this paper as [42]

    The paper’s opening section says the IOC implemented a policy in May 2004 enabling eligible transsexual athletes to compete at the Athens Games. In “The Gender of Muscles and the Olympic Body in Transition,” it describes a “paucity” of transsexual athletes in Olympic competition, but does not say that no recognized transgender athlete has ever participated. (LLM, conf=0.87)

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  • The participation of transgender athletes in the Olympic Games was approved following the 2003 Stockholm Consensus on Sex Reassignment in Sports, which recommended that transwomen athletes undergoing sex reassignment after puberty be eligible for competition 2 years post-gonadectomy, HRT, and legal recognition of assigned sex.

    “The participation of transgender athletes in the Olympic Games was approved following the 2003 Stockholm Consensus on Sex Reassignment in Sports, which recommended that transwomen athletes undergoing sex reassignment after puberty be eligible for competition 2 years post-gonadectomy, HRT, and legal recognition of assigned sex [42].”

    From Integrating Transwomen and Female Athletes with Differences of Sex Development (DSD) into Elite Competition: The FIMS 2021 Consensus Statement (2021) · cites this paper as [42]

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Research works printed but not linked: 13

  1. Maria Jose Martinez Patino was the first Olympic athlete to successfully over-turn the results of an IOC genetic sex test. Patino was fully reinstated in 1988, three years after being banned from Olympic competition in 1985. The sex-test revealed that she had XY chromosomes (usually found in genetic men). Because her body could not register testosterone she developed female genitalia and a female anatomical form (no masculine 'advantage'). The runner and hurdler refused to fake a 'career ending injury' (as instructed by her government) and with legal support challenged the IOC ruling. Pationo was subject to humiliating press coverage and, as Laura Wackwitz contends, her case 'serves as a reminder of the capriciousness of power, the fragility of the category 'woman,' and the problems with applying a base 2 system of classification to base 10 reality' (2003: 557).
  2. Roxanne Atkins Anderson, a 79-year old who coached Mildred Fizzel, (the athlete who finished second to Walsh in the 1934 Los Angeles Olympics) unsuccessfully petitioned The Athletics Congress (TAC), the American governing body for track and field, to take Walsh's title away and give the gold medal to Fizzell whom she now believed to be entitled to an Olympic win. Speaking of the autopsy performed on Walsh, Anderson said 'If that coroner was correct, and I have no reason to doubt it, then our history reads that a man won all of these women's championships.' (The Associated Press, 1991).
  3. Freud, Sigmund. (1984[1915]) 'Repression', in On Metapsychology: The Theory of Psychoanalysis. J. Strachey (trans). London: Penguin.
  4. King, Dave. (1996) 'Gender Blending: Medical Perspectives and Technology', pp.79-98
  5. Ekins, R. and King, D. (eds) Blending Genders: Social Aspects of Cross-dressing and Sex- Changing. London and New York: Routledge.
  6. Patton, Cindy. (2001) 'Rock Hard: Judging the Female Physique', Journal of Sport and Social Issues 25(2): 118-140.
  7. Shildrick, Margrit. (2002) Embodying the Monster: Encounters with the Vulnerable Self. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE.
  8. Sydnor, Synthia. (2004) 'Essence of Post-Olympism: A Prolegomena of Study', pp.165-176 in
  9. Sykes, Heather. (2001) 'Of Gods, Money, and Muscle: Resurgent Homophobias and the Narcissism of Minor Differences in Sport', Psychoanalysis and Contemporary Thought: A Quarterly of Integrative and Interdisciplinary Studies 24(2): 203-225.
  10. CHANGE, The FTM network, G &SA, The Gender Trust, GIRES, Liberty and Press for Change. (2000) 'Gender Confirmation Certificates: The implications for sport and the provision of changing facilities', A Consultation Paper to the Interdepartmental Working Group on Transsexual People's Issues. http://www. pfc.org.uk
  11. Kolata, Gina. (1992) 'Ideas and trends: Who is female? Science can't say', The New York Times, February 16, p. 6 (late edition), sec.
  12. The Associated Press. (1991) 'Ladies first apparently not the case', 5 December.
  13. Wilson, Austin. (1991) 'TAC refuses to discuss gender issue', Capital City Press, 7 December. Women's Golf Australia. (2004) 'Women's Golf Australia Incorporated Member Policies', December 20. http://www.wga.com.au/policies.htm

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Authors
Cavanagh, S. L., & Sykes, H.
Affiliations
  • York University (CA)
  • University of Toronto (CA)
ORCID
Cavanagh, Sheila L.
Venue
Body & Society
Publisher
SAGE Publications
Published
2006-09
Volume
12
Issue
3
Pages
75-102
ISSN
  • 1357-034X (ISSN-L)
  • 1460-3632
DOI
10.1177/1357034x06067157
OpenAlex
W2058272664
Cited by
150
References
38
Citations by year
2026: 2 · 2025: 5 · 2024: 19 · 2023: 8 · 2022: 11 · 2021: 14 · 2020: 7 · 2019: 6 · 2018: 6 · 2017: 8 · 2016: 3 · 2015: 10 · 2014: 8 · 2013: 14 · 2012: 11
FWCI
4.28
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
journals.sagepub.com/page/policies/text-and-data-mining-license (tdm)
Locations
  • Body & Society (publishedVersion)
  • TSpace (University of Toronto) (submittedVersion)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Gender Studies › Sports, Gender, and Society
  • Social Sciences › Gender Studies › Gender and Feminist Studies
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › LGBTQ Health, Identity, and Policy
Keywords
International Olympic Committee, sex testing, sex reassignment, gender binary, Gender Trouble, Judith Butler, discrimination, harassment, psychoanalysis, aging, mortality

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