Category: International

This is a hugely significant decision by the IOC following years of controversy over the participation of transgender and DSD athletes in female competition, and intense debate over how sports should balance fairness and safety with inclusion.

In a reflection of just how sensitive an area of policy this has become, the IOC has traditionally left it to international sports to decide on eligibility criteria for female competition. But in a major shift in policy, all federations will now be expected to follow suit.

A blanket ban on transgender athletes and DSD athletes from women’s sport will be welcomed by many who have long felt that such a move is essential if fairness and safety in the female category is to be preserved.

Supporters say this approach – based on a genetic test – has recently been successfully employed in athletics and boxing, and is a reliable, confidential and proportionate approach that has the backing of sports scientists, along with the vast majority of athletes.

They also say this method is more humane than requiring transgender or DSD athletes to suppress their natural testosterone levels, and will avoid the intense media scrutiny that some athletes have been subjected to.

Opponents remain concerned, however, that the approach is invasive, and that there is a risk of accidental contamination and a potential false positive.

This month a group of academics called sex testing a “backwards step and a harmful anachronism” in a report submitted to the British Journal of Sports Medicine, and that testing violates the human rights of athletes and could create stigma and psychological distress.

They said it was “a simplistic way of reducing a characteristic to a single gene, which does not reflect the complex nature of sex”.

The IOC used the SRY gene test in the 1980s but, after a number of ‘false positives’, and fears that female athletes were being punished for natural variations, sex verification tests were abolished in the 1990s.

Now, under mounting pressure, sport’s most powerful body has embarked on a new approach, and it will be fascinating to see if it now faces any legal challenges.

Following the controversial final in Rabat – in which Morocco and Real Madrid forward Brahim Diaz missed a Panenka penalty to win the match in the 114th minute – the Royal Moroccan Football Federation (FRMF) immediately lodged a complaint with Caf and Fifa, claiming that Senegal leaving the field of play “greatly affected the normal course of the match and the players’ morale”.

Caf’s disciplinary committee initially rejected that appeal, instead issuing sanctions against both sides, including a five-match ban for Senegal head coach Pape Thiaw, on 29 January.

The FRMF said those original penalties did not “reflect the seriousness of the incidents”, and Caf’s appeal board agreed, releasing a statement on 17 March which said Senegal had contravened articles 82 and 84 of competition regulations.

Article 82 states that if a team “leaves the ground before the regular end of the match without the authorisation of the referee”, they are eliminated.

Senegal’s government responded by calling for an investigation into “suspected corruption” at Caf, a claim rebuffed by the governing body’s president, Patrice Motsepe, who has been at pains to point out the appeal board’s independence.

“It is important that the decisions of our Caf disciplinary board and the Caf appeals board are viewed with respect and integrity,” he said.

The final decision on who claims the 2025 Afcon title now rests with Cas, sport’s highest judicial authority.

“To wage this moral and legal crusade, we have appointed a team of seasoned professionals with undeniable expertise,” Fall announced in Paris, flanked by members of the FSF legal team.

One of them, lawyer Seydou Diagne, called the decision to strip Senegal of their title “so blatant, so absurd, so irrational”.

“The decision of the appeals jury cannot even be considered a true decision of sporting justice,” he added.

“It is an unacceptable and intolerable attack on the fundamental rights of our national Football Federation.”

Fellow lawyer Juan Perez said: “A match that was over, whose result had been decided by the referee, now being re-refereed, administratively – that’s unprecedented. You haven’t seen anything like it. It could change the world of football.”

Caf recently updated the Afcon 2025 review on its website to list Morocco as winners, although that page now appears to have been taken down.

With Senegal refusing to relinquish the trophy, and with Saturday’s planned parade a sign of their contempt, the battle to be crowned African champions is far from over.

US television presenter Savannah Guthrie believes her mother was kidnapped and that two ransom notes demanding money were real, but more information is required to find her kidnapper.

‘We cannot be at peace without knowing’, she said in an interview that aired Thursday on NBC News’ “Today” show, her first since 84-year-old Nancy Guthrie’s apparent abduction.

More than 50 days have passed since Guthrie was first reported missing on 1 February. Authorities believe the 84-year-old was kidnapped, abducted or otherwise taken against her will. The FBI released surveillance videos of a masked man who was outside Guthrie’s front door on the night she vanished.

The Guthrie family has offered a $1 million reward for information leading to the recovery of their mother.

Read more here.

Regarding Maduro’s fate, she said she felt a degree of sympathy: “He is a man who had everything but lost it through greed and an inflated ego. I feel sorry for him, because in the end he is a human being, but I hope he receives a life sentence. He has to pay for his crimes.”