Steve QJ
1 min readFeb 1, 2022

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Yeah, I've heard this suggestion floated before, but it simply doesn't work outside of a few edge cases. Women will pretty much always lose out by this method unless you create bizarre and what would end up being humiliating concessions. Not least because when you get to the top 10% or so of male athletes, there's simply no way to use "other distinctions" to give women a chance to compete.

And if they can't compete, we end up in a situation where we basically never see a woman in the final of an event ever again.

I see your point about athletes like Caster Semenaya, but a system that is difficult in the extremely rare cases an athlete like her comes along is surely a much better option than an enormously complicated system that still ends up making women invisible.

Whether you classify by weight or height or some other measure, the top 10% of males will outperform the top 1% of females 99% of the time. Compare the weightlifting world records by weight class for males and females. The male records are still significantly higher. It's just biology. Again, this is why female sports exist. To give female athletes they spotlight they deserve.

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Steve QJ
Steve QJ

Written by Steve QJ

Race. Politics. Culture. Sometimes other things. Almost always polite. Find more at https://steveqj.substack.com

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