Welcome To The IOC!
Welcome to this magical world when you wake up, you tend to believe that the world is getting better and less flagrant racism and misogynistic attacks are less present in the public space!
What a wake up call it has been in the last month where I have been following the qualifications to the Tokyo Olympics.
As a Burundian, I am cheering for our national hero, Francine Niyonsaba, a silver medalist at the 2016 Rio Games. As a sport enthusiast and an African, checking who will rival Francine is a must.
Caster Semenya from South Africa and Margaret Wambui from Kenya, both who were at the podium in 2016. The athletes ran the 800 mn and in Tokyo, only Francine is allowed to run for the 5000m.
This article is not here to state what you can read on other media channels but to state the obvious : the International Olympic Committee is acting in the most vile way towards its athletes, insulting every African country and every woman on this planet Earth.
For those who know me, they know I am not a person who easily “sees” racism everywhere; I do see and live through micro aggressions and I tend to go on with my life. I usually put this down to ignorance.
But when an organisation decides to institute a system that devalues every woman on the ground that the IOC definition of what a woman does not conform to their own agenda is appalling at best and frightening for the future.
Let me start with this story of an Ugandan athlete, Annet Negesa, runner of the 800m, who was violated by an institution she trusted, the World Athletics. This organisation convinced Ms Negesa via Dr Stéphane Bermon (who looks like he is still in private practice in Monaco) to undergo a surgery that will change her personal and professional life. The World Athletics is presided over by Sebastian Coe more accurately Baron Coe, CH, KBE, a former track and field athlete and a present politician.
When all was done, the World Athletics denied Mrs Negesa’s allegation (NY Times).
In March, the United Nations Human Rights Council condemned World Athletics’ attempt to regulate female athletes’ testosterone levels. And in May the World Medical Association advised physicians around the world to abstain from implementing the new regulations.
Call me an optimist but when I read this statement, I tend to ask if the people in charge of World Athletics were ever prosecuted. The person in charge.
It would not be a false accusation to write that sports organisations (there are private organisations by the way) in the last decade or two have not been a beacon of trust.
I relate to their system of work similar to the management of an African country. You know who holds the power and you can scream and shout, there is not much that will change — maybe the death of a person could change the destiny of the country. Not much else! Barking at the wrong tree type of thing.
The list of African women who have been wronged, abused by the sports body is getting long every day and the funny thing is that they are not targeting the average athlete, they are literally tearing up our Olympians.
Now, I live in France and I can scream as much as I can about this injustice and not much will be done — not everyone will understand my despair, they can just put it on my excitement for sports.
But nowadays, with everything happening in the world, organisations claiming to be woke and pro Black Lives Matter; I wonder if I still have some breath left to scream.
Here comes the road to Tokyo and I read that a transgender athlete from New Zealand who now goes by the name of Laurel Hubbard has been “qualified” in the women category. What I thought was a laughable matter months back because my brain could not comprehend such disdain against women; now it has become a reality that still my brain doesn’t register.
In the IOC and the World Athletics realm, there are rules for the South and the North hemisphere : obviously, Australia and New Zealand are located in the South but you know what I mean.
Simply put :
Developed Countries : you cannot qualify because your testosterone levels are naturally too high — YOU must be a male. This is so unnatural.
G20 : If you woke up and felt like a woman and want to compete in an international event, please join us in Tokyo 2021, Paris 2024, LA 2028 ; make sure you take some pills to lower your testosterone levels and nothing else is asked of you. Nope, no need for an invasive surgical intervention as you are who you are. Do not mind the doping rules.
These do not apply to you.
Disclaimer : I am a host of several podcasts and with Parole, I have shared my unease with the BLM and while I am a woman in every sense of the world, I believe that there is a clear distinction between a body of a man and a woman.
What else can I read in this system?
Sports can often be irrational and sports organisations more often than not are prosecuted for several reasons.
Now that Tokyo 2021 looks like it will go on, I wonder how African countries, African Olympics committees are reacting to these insults. I wonder what women who professed to be feminist agree with these terms.
When I read the IOC Consensus Meeting on Reassignment and Hyperandrogenism published in November 2015 (you cannot make this thing up) with 20 participants among them, the precious Dr Bermon who butchered Annet Negesa; I wonder how a woman like Ms Joanna Harper — Chief Medical Physicist, Radiation Oncology, Providence Portland Medical Center — can sign a paper that states this :
Part 1.
Transgender guidelines :
A.Since the 2003 Stockholm Consensus on Sex Reassignment in Sports, there has been a growing recognition of the importance of autonomy of gender identity in society, as reflected in the laws of many jurisdictions worldwide.
B. There are also, however, jurisdictions where autonomy of gender identity is not recognised in law at all. (What does this even mean??)
C. It is necessary to ensure insofar as possible that trans athletes are not excluded from the opportunity to participate in sporting competition.
D. The overriding sporting objective is and remains the guarantee of fair competition. Restrictions on participation are appropriate to the extent that they are necessary and proportionate to the achievement of that objective.
E. To require surgical anatomical changes as a pre-condition to participation is not necessary to preserve fair competition and may be inconsistent with developing legislation and notions of human rights.
Part 2.
Hyperandrogenism in female athletes
- Rules should be in place for the protection of women in sport and the promotion of the principles of fair competition.
- The IAAF, with support from other International Federations, National Olympic Committees and other sports organisations, is encouraged to revert to CAS with arguments and evidence to support the reinstatement of its hyperandrogenism rules.
- To avoid discrimination, if not eligible for female competition the athlete should be eligible to compete in male competition.
Part I is full of gibberish description of what ought to be something and Part II goes along the lines if you do not allow you to compete with your female peers, try the men section. Because the participants of this useless cohort are full of lawyers, they do not know how to write anything . There are also Professors who put their names on this paper — one, I applaud your chutzpah ; second, I’ll make sure to recommend no one to your school.
More seriously, I wonder what would have happened if one doctor had decided to alter Serena’s body for the ITF convenience, too good to play against women. I wonder what kind of uproar would have been caused by this illegal act.
I know that not everyone involved in the sports bodies is crooked and corrupt, I call on countries to raise awareness of this issue of blatant racism and act of abuse against women located in every part of the world. Whether she might have been born in a Palace or in a shack.
What do normal citizens and sports fans do to help? To be honest, I do not have to answer but I am sure something has got to be done. But governments do have a responsibility towards its citizens. Here, I will include New Zealand Prime Minister, Jacinda Arden, who applauded Mr Hubbard qualifying for women’s weightlifting 87kg+. Feminism at its best!
When I looked into the management of the World Athletics, I scrolled through Sebastian Coe’s Instagram page, may I not have read what had happened before, I could swear this man was routing from champions and because the best runners in the world are from the Eastern part of Africa (Ethiopia, Kenya, Burundi & Uganda). I could swear his position was a pro winner. That is why I tend to grin when I see or hear his posts with black American raising their fists and Africans : posting about your indignation when you are the root problem. Kudos!
On an African level, I often hear that the best PR we have in Africa is the Rwandan President, Paul Kagame. I wonder and shiver for a second in imagining this : if a Rwandan (male or female) would have been molested in the hands of a French doctor how would he have reacted?
Allow me to give a bit of Gavin or Laurel Hubbard’s background in the sports field. According to the Daily Mail article published this 4th of July, at the same time I am writing mine.
Born in 1978, Gavin was the captain of his high school weightlifting team where at the age of 16, he won in the 99kgs+ category. Later on, he came second in the 108kgs + in the Northern Region Secondary Schools Championships. Before I go any further, I would like to highlight his winning in High School; he was not yet 18.
In 2021, he is taking a spot that should go to a woman and will be competing in the 87kgs + category.
Do I need to add something?
Also, there are enough articles on differences between a male and a female body for those who might take science very seriously. To not understand the struggle of these women athletes who after 4+ years of sweating and sacrificing a lot are not only silenced but have nowhere to ask for help. At least, for now.
And for those of us, who have played against a boy before puberty hit and after as fully formed men, do appreciate the men’s and women’s competition. Not sure if Marta or Alex Morgan would have made it far without it.
Mr Hubbard can decide to qualify in Paris as a man and in Los Angeles as a woman as long as he maintains his testosterones levels at a required minimum. The IOC knows how to define a woman when it needs to. You only need to give a heads up a year before the competition. Mr Hubbard has been competing against men before changing in his early thirties. Basically, at this pace, he could win every woman competition until he retires in his late 70s. Let’s imagine for a second, Lebron James retiring from the NBA and jumping in the WNBA. We will switch off our screens.
In the US, there has been unrest regarding athletes who have taken a stand to share opinions or give more money to support causes. I would like to see a place where influential athletes (men & women) take a stand on this issue : not only in the US, but also in Europe; it will be interesting to hear Federer or Nadal discussing the issues in the tennis world; Messi & Ronaldo in football etc.
I, for sure, find this year’s Olympics tiring and not that interesting to watch because of all the restrictions put in place to make sure that nothing happens. Well done, for the first time in my life (aka since ’96); my watch will not be set on Tokyo’s time and it’s a real shame.
I am pretty sure I am not the only one. I feel bad for the athletes and the whole congregation that will meet up there.
Paris in 3 years, my eyes are preparing those games with a total revision of the rules.
IOC should know better, many networks have seen viewership decline when mixing sports & woke politics. It should take a look at what is happening at CNN or even the NBA. Take a close look at what happened to the Super League ; when super fans decided they were not having it.
When I look at what the Olympic Committee, World Athletics, International Weightlifting Federation and other clubs ; it reminds me of an analogy that somebody shared with me years ago about hypocrisy : imagine you are drowning and there is a person who comes to rescue you; one hand holding your head down in the water and the other pretending to ask for help.
Wokeness, anti racism and every name that oppression seems to create in order to blind our eyes is no longer tolerated. This is a time where people are waking up to the cruelty of certain systems put in place by similar organisations.
If my memory serves me well, let History remind Europeans what invasive surgical procedures looked like in the 1940s and beyond in Latin America.
Yes, even us Africans read history books.
There needs to be a call for action. We love sports and love fairness (at least, most of us do), if there is a “safe space” for a trans athlete to compete; there is surely a place for a woman with a higher level of testosterone to compete among her peers. This is a call to prosecute the people who have been involved in Annett Negesa’s case.
Dr Stéphane Bermon works in Monaco where Prince Albert II, a former Olympian and President of the Monaco Olympic Committee does something. There is a need to prosecute Sebastian Coe as well who was/is at the head of the World Athletics.
May I add, he is also the Chairman of the British Olympic Association.
If this is not an attack on our mental health, I do not know what is.
Add reparations to the list!
In the 21st century, there are several competitions that serve every need ; in the Olympic world, there are three that I know of : Olympics, Paralympics, Special Olympics. Every competition serves its purpose and eliminates the unfairness in qualifying and competing. For the trans athlete, let there be a body that caters to them and this will leave a space for women to qualify and actually compete fairly against other biological women.
Gavin Hubbard (and Laurel since 2014) and other trans athletes should not compete in the women category. Period. If there is any space for men and women to compete; the eGames looks like a fair place to thrive in.
Gavin, if you read this article, I am even asking you to take more pills to downgrade your testosterone levels or advocating for you to have surgery to resemble me. Not at all, I am only saying this : you were born a male and in sports, it is not the feelings that counts but facts. I will quote this French saying “Les faits sont têtus”. (Facts are stubborn)
Lastly, I was born in the late 80s, I grew up in Africa, in a war torn country where I witnessed violence and injustice; I never would have thought that I would be writing about women’s rights being openly violated by sports institutions in 2021. Never! I started my podcast (Sporteve) to chat with more women and not to define what womanhood is. I thought we were all clear on that; it seems I was so wrong.
I will keep inviting men and women who are passionate about their work in the sports industry.
To the IOC Executive Board, I am not asking you to be fair, this seems to be an impossible task; just do not push it too far.
Justice for Caster, Francine, Annett, Margaret, Tracey Lambrechs, Sha’Carri Richardson, Feagaiga Stowers, Iuniarra Sipaia our two Namibian runners Christine Mboma and Beatrice Masilingi.
