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An unusual event has rocked the U-21 Women's Volleyball World Championship, as Vietnam's representative was expelled from the competition following chromosomal tests on two of its players.
The decision came after opposing teams raised doubts about the physical characteristics of some Vietnamese volleyball players. The International Federation annulled Vietnam's results and declared one of the players "unfit" to play in the women's category.
Serbia's coach, after a loss to Vietnam, declared that she had not "prepared the team to play against a men's team," a complaint that was later deemed justified by the sport's governing bodies.
Rules and debates over the inclusion of trans athletes
The International Volleyball Federation has previously recommended that each national team be allowed to have a maximum of one trans athlete, provided that testosterone levels do not exceed the limit of 5 nmol/L one year before the competition. However, the case of Vietnam shows that the debate over gender determination in sport remains heated.
Recently, World Athletics has also announced that it will conduct gender tests for all female athletes, implementing them at the Tokyo World Championships in September, to ensure that only athletes who pass the genetic test can compete.
In 2021, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) changed its guidelines for the participation of trans athletes, leaving the final decision in the hands of the respective federations. Initially, trans athletes were allowed to participate if their testosterone was below 10 nmol/L for the year prior to the competition.
But these rules brought unexpected problems, including the exclusion of some cisgender women (whose gender was assigned at birth) with naturally high testosterone levels: the most famous case being that of South African athlete Caster Semenya.
For the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, a new criterion was added: trans athletes must have completed their transition before puberty (before the age of 12), with the reasoning that otherwise they could gain an advantage over cisgender athletes.
These rules are also being followed by FINA (swimming) and UCI (cycling), but have been criticized by the World Association for Transgender Health, which recommends a minimum age of 14 for the start of transition.
An old debate with new methods
The issue of gender determination in sports is not new. As far back as the 1960s, the Olympics used visual checks and invasive tests to confirm the gender of athletes, methods that are now considered degrading.
In 2025, even though technology has advanced, the debate remains fierce, dividing public opinion and the sporting world between those who advocate inclusion and those who demand stricter rules.
At the center of it all, female athletes, whether women, trans or cisgender, continue to be subject to intense scrutiny, where the line between sporting justice and discrimination remains blurred.
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