gender verification

The process of sex testing to confirm the sexuality of participants taking part in all-female sports. The first attempt at gender verification was by the International Amateur Athletic Federation who paraded naked female athletes before a panel of male doctors. In 1968, this rather dubious test procedure was dropped by the International Olympic committee who used the buccal smear test or Barr test at the Winter Olympics in Grenoble. At the 1992 Barcelona Games, the Barr test was replaced the Polymerase Chain Reaction Test. Gender verification was suspended for the 2000 Olympics in Sydney. In 2004, the International Olympic Committee permitted transgender athletes to compete in the Olympic Games in Athens, as long as they had appropriate surgery and were legally recognized as members of their new sex. The ruling covered male-to-female and female-to-male cases. See also sex reassignment.