The End of Compulsory Gender Verification: Is It Progress for Inclusion of Women in Sports?

Recently, the so-called Semenya case has brought the problem of gender in sports competitions back into the spotlight. But the fact is that it is not a unique case; rather, it seems a recurrent and inconclusive problem in the history of sports. In this context, the Spanish athlete Martínez-Patiño is an important figure in the history of sport and gender verification, as well as the Indian sprinter Dutee Chand. Martínez-Patiño's story thus serves as an important case study of the gender-based anxieties that hampered women's advancement in track and field. Martínez-Patiño's experience in Spanish athletics demonstrates the difficulties women faced when attempting to compete in track and field, both in Spain and internationally. Moreover, her experience with gender policies shows the inadequacies of the chromosomal check as a sex marker, as well as the harms caused by the technique. Finally, Martínez-Patiño's protest of the International Association of Athletics Federations' policy started to dismantle compulsory sex verification used as a criterion for gender eligibility. The publicity surrounding her case pushed the track and field federation to abandon mandatory, on-site testing in 1992. Seven years later, the International Olympic Committee also dropped its compulsory control. Martínez-Patiño became the face of the fight against sex/gender verification in sport and helped dismantle the practice. The case of Martinez-Patiño remains in the collective memory of elite sports and serves as an argument for national and international sporting institutions to reconsider discriminating policies in the context of progress being made for women's rights.

Of Athletes, Bodies, and Rules: Making Sense of Caster Semenya

This article aims to systematically deconstruct four distinct narratives derived from the case of Caster Semenya v. IAAF (Court of Arbitration for Sport).

Sports doping: emerging designer and therapeutic β2-agonists

Beta2-adrenergic agonists, or β2-agonists, are considered essential bronchodilator drugs in the treatment of bronchial asthma, both as symptom-relievers and, in combination with inhaled corticosteroids, as disease-controllers. The use of β2-agonists is prohibited in sports by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) due to claimed anabolic effects, and also, is prohibited as growth promoters in cattle fattening in the European Union. This paper reviews the last seven-year (2006-2012) literature concerning the development of novel β2-agonists molecules either by modifying the molecule of known β2-agonists or by introducing moieties producing indole-, adamantyl- or phenyl urea derivatives. New emerging β2-agonists molecules for future therapeutic use are also presented, intending to emphasize their potential use for doping purposes or as growth promoters in the near future.