Men, ever want to get an Olympic medal ? But you just weren’t up to the task or maybe your peak had come and gone ? Well if you are willing to say you’re a woman, 2018 just may be your year.
“In November 2015, the IOC Medical and Scientific Commission convened an expert group to review the available scientific and clinical evidence on Sex Reassignment and Hyperandrogenism in female athletes. Although there was not unanimity of opinion on all details discussed the statement reflects a consensus (Consensus Statement) of those participating. However, following the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) interim award in the Chand v AFI and IAAF case, the IOC was not in a position to introduce rules on hyperandrogenism until the issues of the case are resolved,” the email concluded.
Unless the Olympic Committee changes its mind before 2018, athletes competing in the South Korea Winter Olympics will not be required to undergo sex testing or adhere to testosterone limits.
Not the first time the IOC has condoned cheating. After the infamous practices of the East German Olympic Teams were found out the IOC refused to take remedial action.
In 1977, shot-putter Ilona Slupianek, who weighed 93 kg (205 lb), tested positive for anabolic steroids at the European Cup meeting in Helsinki. At the same time, the Kreischa testing laboratory near Dresden passed into government control, which was reputed to make around 12,000 tests a year on East German athletes, but without any being penalised.[11]
The International Amateur Athletics Federation suspended Slupianek for 12 months, a penalty that ended two days before the European championships in Prague. In reverse of what the IAAF hoped, sending her home to East Germany meant, that she was free to train unchecked with anabolic steroids, if she wanted to, and then compete for another gold medal, which indeed she won.
After the Slupianek affair, East German athletes were secretly tested before they left the country. Those who tested positive, were removed from international competition. Usually, such withdrawals were temporary, as they were intended to serve less as a punishment, but as a means to protect both the athlete and the East German team from international sanctions.
Based on an admission given by Andrea Pollack, the United States Olympic Committee asked for the redistribution of gold medals won in the 1976 Summer Olympics.[24] Despite court rulings in Germany about substantial claims of systematic doping by some East German swimmers, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) executive board announced that it has no intention of revising the Olympic record books. In rejecting the American petition on behalf of its women’s medley relay team in Montreal and a similar petition from the British Olympic Association on behalf of Sharron Davies, the IOC made it clear that it wanted to discourage any such appeals in the future.[25]
Sorry ladies, but you know how this goes, there’s far too few people in the world willing to do the right thing to begin with and even fewer people in positions of authority to follow up. Just another case of why we can’t have nice things.
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