Tennis legend Martina Navratilova supports banning trans women from female sporting events
Tennis legend Martina Navratilova has expressed her support for banning trans women from participating in elite female games.
The ex-world number one revealed in an article for The Times that World Athletics’ latest move is “a step in the right direction”.
“I’ve spoken out on this issue for a long time as I’ve read up on what the realities are for trans women competing against biological women,” she said.
Navratilova, who is a member of the Women’s Sport Policy Working Group, added that lung capacity, skeletal structure, skin thickness and muscle mass.
“The other thing that nobody talks about is the airways that we breathe through, which are 25 to 50 percent larger in men,” said the 59-time Grand Slam winner.
“If you can breathe faster and deeper, that’s a huge advantage in top-class sport.
“That’s before you touch about a five-inch height difference between someone born male and a biological female, with a two-inch difference in arm length.”
This means that if women were to compete against men in tennis or sports such as basketball, they would have to jump seven inches higher than their male competitors to break even.
“It’s no coincidence that we don’t hear complaints about trans men competing against men,” Navratilova said.
“You don’t have the physical advantages of a man who’s past puberty.
“But the advantage that trans women have is obviously unfair.”
She added that “testosterone is the biggest driving force” in the gender gap in sport and even with transition drugs, “the effects of male puberty are irreversible”.
“You can’t just turn back the clock,” she said.
Navratilova, who is widely regarded as one of the greatest tennis players of all time, continued to call for an “open category” for the court.
“It would be a category for everyone: men who identify as men; women who identify as women; women identifying as men; men who identify as women; non-binary – it would be a catch-all term,” the 66-year-old said.
“Organic women are most likely to compete in the organic women category as it is their best chance of winning and in the spirit of fairness.
“With an ‘open’ category, there are no question marks, no reservations, no asterisks, no doubts.”
She added, “It’s a simple fix.”