spiked: What do you make of World Athletics’ decision to update its policy on trans athletes?

Sharron Davies: I’ve been campaigning on this for over five years now. Allowing trans athletes to compete in women’s sports was always the wrong decision. It was always based on very, very bad science. It was not based on proper, open consultation. It was not based on working with female athletes or coaches. It was a purely political decision that threw fairness in women’s sports under the bus.

For me, allowing trans athletes to compete against women had echoes of the whole East German doping scandal. During the 1970s and 1980s, my generation and the generation below me were losing out to young East German women who had been given steroids and male hormones – the effects of these often mimicked male puberty. Even then, the advantage the East German women had is smaller than the advantage trans athletes have today. And yet, the East German athletes totally dominated for nearly 20 years. I just did not want to see that happen to another generation of athletes.

When it came to the trans issue, I was constantly disappointed by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and its lack of governance. It would constantly pass the decision-making back to sports governing bodies. And it has taken World Athletics until now to eventually do the right thing.