Since 2004, transgender athletes have been allowed to compete in the Olympics as long as they have  gone through surgery for a sex change. But this is no longer the case. Medical chiefs at the International Olympic Committee (IOC) have recommended the change which could mean transgender athletes are likely to compete in this year’s Rio de Janeiro-based games.

While it is important to ensure the guarantee of fair competition, it is as important to ensure that trans athletes are not excluded from the opportunity to participate in sporting competition, says Professor Ugar Erdener who headed the IOC medical findings.

He insists that surgery “may be inconsistent with developing legislation and notions of human rights” and, as a result, it is proposed that athletes “who transition from female to male are eligible to compete in the male category without restriction.”

Athletes, though, who transition from male to female must declare their gender identity as female and show that their testosterone seem level is below 10 nanomols per liter for at least 12 months before competing, that the testosterone level must remain below this while competing and that athletes may need to undergo testing to prove this.