The real story of athletics' trans ban will go untold

A few hours after World Athletics announced it had banned transgender women from elite female sport, someone tagged Parkrun UK in a tweet, and asked: "Will you follow @WorldAthletics lead and ban transgender women from women's athletics at all levels?"

- LAWRENCE OSTLERE

It was only one post by one person with a hundred-odd followers, but the tweet calling for transgender women to be barred from an organised run was seen by nearly 20,000 people in 24 hours.

In purely sporting terms, the transgender debate is about longstanding dividing lines built on the biological differences between men and women, which are being tested by the reality that not everyone fits neatly into those boxes. It is about biology and identity, about sex and gender, about finding an impossible balance between the principle of fairness and the right of inclusion.

But when a major sporting body makes a decision on transgender exclusion like this one, there will inevitably be unintended consequences at every level. The detailed 2021 Trans Lives Survey found 77 per cent of trans women who participate in sport have experienced transphobia, and 14 per cent experience abuse or discrimination "every time" they play. As Australian trans-runner Ricki Coughlan warned this week, World Athletics' decision could now embolden "forces of hate" against the community, because the notion of exclusion will permeate far deeper than elite sport.