Six years ago, Tiffany Newell, a 50-year-old former soccer player and triathlete, started to identify as a woman and in an apparent effort to make up for lost time, he has been breaking records set by female athletes at various track events, according to Blaze Media..Last weekend, Newell took first place at the 2023 Canadian Masters Indoor Championship in Toronto, in the 50 to 54 age group for the women's 1,500-metre indoor race. .Newell had but one competitor, Catherine Weber, who, as Blaze Media reported, “appears to have placed first among real women in the category.”.Newell broke another record in February, ratified by Canadian Masters Athletics under the regulations of World Masters Athletics (WMA), running the 5,000 metre competition in 18:02:30, “beating the real woman previously in the top spot by six seconds,” says Blaze..Reduxx magazine reported Newell also secured the top spots on Jan. 8 in the women's 3,000 metres in the 45 to 49 age group at the Winter Mini Meet and on Feb. 5 in the 1,500 metres for women aged 45 to 49..Running Magazine said Newell began his process of gender transmogrification in 2017 but did not begin competing against women until the transition was reportedly complete in 2020, at which time his testosterone levels satisfied the requirements set by the World Athletics transsexual athlete policies..Accordingly, Newell would have had to "demonstrate to the satisfaction of the Expert Panel (on the balance of probabilities) that the concentration of testosterone in her serum has been less than five nanomoles per three litres (nmol/L3) continuously for a period of at least 12 months," says Running, adding “he would also have had to keep his serum testosterone concentration below five nmol/L for so long as she wishes to maintain her eligibility to compete in the female category of competition.".To satisfy the requirements adhered to by WMA, it is not necessary that a male transsexual competing with women undergo surgical anatomical changes or provide legal recognition of his gender identity, says Blaze..Newell has also competed against women at the 2021 Canadian XC Championships in the Masters eight kilometres race, winning a silver medal, which was repeated at the 2022 Hamilton Marathon..The International Consortium on Female Sport, which advocates to protect distinctions in sexed categories, asked World Athletics and WMA in a tweet: "WHY are you not protecting the integrity of the female category? WHY do you insist on showing such blatant sex-discrimination?" .George Perry, an athlete performance coach, noted in a Twitter thread ahead of Newell's most recent victories that there are some meaningful differences between male and female track competitors, at least in the way of performance and outcomes, underscoring that “between the top man and the top woman will be a lot of ‘un-notable men, midgrade, mediocre men,’” of which he reckons Newell is one, says Blaze..Running Magazine said, in response to the suggestion by some critics that transsexuals compete in an open category besides those designated for biological men and women, Newell said, "The policy makes sense for non-binary athletes, but I don’t feel comfortable racing against men..Newell added an open category would categorize him in the sex he does not identify with: "I am a woman, and I feel most comfortable racing against women or other transgender women. I believe an open category can work if athletes can continue to race against athletes of the same gender.".In 2020, The Guardian reported male transsexuals retain a 12% edge in tests two years after transitioning. This conclusion was first reached in a paper published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine showing male transsexuals performed 31% more push-ups and 15% more sit-ups in one minute on average than real women and ran 1.5 miles 21% faster..After taking hormones, a male transsexual was found to retain a 10% advantage in push-ups and a 6% advantage in sit-ups years later, said The Guardian..World Athletics president Sebastian Coe told Insider last year, "If you pushed me and said I had to choose between fairness or inclusion, I will always lean towards fairness, because that’s what sports have to be based on."
