Scientific Considerations on Transgender Athletes Participating in Elite Sport Competitions

In the 32 thSummer Olympic Games, the 43-year-old transgender athlete Laura Hubbard from New Zealand participated in the women's +87 kg weightlifting, being the first transgender athlete from male to female participating in a women's competition of the Olympics. It has long been a topic of great concern and controversy not only in academia and media, but also among athletes,ever since 1936 when German intersex athlete Dora Ratjan participated in the women's high jump, and the year 2019 when the South African “biological male” athlete Caster Semenya was refused to participate in the women's competition, until the time when the transgender athletes participated in women's sports competitions. On the basis of reviewing the progress of athlete gender testing and technical development, this study reviewed the important events of intersex and transgender athletes participating in women's competitions, analyzed the evolution of the international sports organization's rules on transgender athletes participating in women's competitions, focused on morphological, physiological, ethical, and social issues of transgender athletes participating in women's sports competitions, and finally proposed the future trend of transgender athletes participating in women's sports competitions.