Sports
Zambia soccer captain fails ‘gender verification’ test
Barbra Banda sat out Women’s Africa Cup of Nations match against Tunisia
International soccer star Barbra Banda of Zambia sat out Wednesday’s Women’s Africa Cup of Nations contest against Tunisia and has been ruled out of competing for the rest of the tournament, because of a test to prove she’s a woman.
Banda’s testosterone levels were found to exceed those allowed by the Confederation of African Football, according to the BBC. Those rules are established by the global governing body, FIFA, and match those of World Athletics, which required South African Olympian Caster Semenya to medically lower her naturally high testosterone levels in order to compete against other female athletes.
The 22-year-old striker and team captain traveled with her teammates to the tournament in Morocco, and is training alongside them, despite not being able to play. Banda also plays for Chinese club Shanghai and is reported to be contemplating an offer to join Spain’s team.
ESPN reports the head of the Zambian Football Association is pressing the CAF for a review.
“Our FA President is in Morocco and has been pursuing this matter with his colleagues in CAF,” FAZ communications director Sydney Mungala told ESPN about the efforts by ZFA president Andrew Kamanga. “The Barbra case is just one example, but the broader picture is to strive to see how these regulations can be more responsible for the general situation — not just Zambia. Many players can be affected by these regulations, and football is their livelihood. I think the CAF regulations are a lot more stringent [than Olympic regulations], and they put too much stress on testosterone levels.”
Despite being barred from competing in this tournament, Banda was cleared to play in last year’s Olympic Games. Banda scored back-to-back hat-tricks in Zambia’s debut in the Tokyo Summer Games last year, the first woman to have done so, and to net six goals across two matches in the history of the women’s competition.
But because of her T-levels, Banda was not permitted to play in Sunday’s match with Cameroon, which ended in a 0-0 draw, nor Wednesday’s 1-0 victory over Tunisia. Striker Siomala Mapepa wore her number 11 uniform for the Copper Queens.
At a news conference Sunday, the BBC asked CAF’s communications director Lux September how it was possible for Banda to have played in the Olympics but not in the Women’s Africa Cup of Nations. September denied his organization barred Banda, claiming “There is no such decision from the CAF medical committee.”
Kamanga responded with irritation, according to the BBC, saying “whatever happened was purely a CAF requirement.” The team president called it “unfair” to pin the decision to bench Banda on his team, and labeled the gender verification regulation “discriminatory.”
“If you take it to the next level in the FIFA competitions,” said Kamanga, “you now start questioning why it should only be enforced in this competition, when it should really cut across all competitions.”
FIFA’s regulations, which date back to 2011, say “Androgenic hormones have performance-enhancing effects which may provide an advantage in football.”
What’s unclear is what Banda did or didn’t do in order to comply with the rules. The BBC reported she took “medication to help reduce her levels of testosterone” but the team spokesperson, Mungala, told ESPN that Banda and other players declined a course of hormone suppression treatment.
“I think there are possible side effects,” he said.
Semenya knows all about those. The two-time 800-meter Olympic gold medalist is currently awaiting a verdict in her case from the European Court of Human Rights after previously losing appeals at the Court of Arbitration for Sport and Switzerland’s Federal Supreme Court.
“It made me sick, made me gain weight, panic attacks, I don’t know if I was ever going to have a heart attack,” Semenya recently told HBO Real Sports about trying hormone suppressant medication earlier in her career. “It’s like stabbing yourself with a knife every day. But I had no choice. I’m 18, I want to run, I want to make it to Olympics, that’s the only option for me.”
Caster Semenya on @RealSportsHBO this week. On when she took testosterone-suppressing medication for eligibility: “I didn’t know if I was having a heart attack. It’s like stabbing yourself with a knife every day, but I had no choice.” pic.twitter.com/QzGMieyCqD
— Nick Zaccardi (@nzaccardi) May 23, 2022
Semenya has since decided to not take testosterone suppressing drugs and attempt to compete in other track and field events that don’t require she take medication. When World Athletics officials questioned her sex, she was blunt:
“They thought I had a dick, probably,” she said on the HBO program. “I told them: ‘It’s fine. I’m a female, I don’t care. If you want to see I’m a woman, I will show you my vagina. All right?’”
From ‘African Football league channel:
Sports
New IOC policy bans trans women from Olympics
New regulation to be in effect at 2028 summer games in Los Angeles
The International Olympic Committee on Thursday announced it will not allow transgender women from competing in female events at the Olympics.
“For all disciplines on the Sports Program of an IOC event, including individual and team sports, eligibility for any Female Category is limited to biological females,” reads the new policy.
The policy states “eligibility for the Female Category is to be determined in the first instance by SRY Gene screening to detect the absence or presence of the SRY Gene.”
“On the basis of the scientific evidence, the IOC considers that the SRY (sex-determining Region Y) Gene is fixed throughout life and represents highly accurate evidence that an athlete has experienced or will experience male sex development,” it reads. “Furthermore, the IOC considers that SRY Gene screening via saliva, cheek swab or blood sample is unintrusive compared to other possible methods. Athletes who screen negative for the SRY gene permanently satisfy this policy’s eligibility criteria for competition in the Female Category.”
The policy states the test “will be a once-in-a-lifetime test” unless “there is reason to believe a negative reading is in error.”
The new regulation will be in place for the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.
“I understand that this a very sensitive topic,” said IOC President Kirsty Coventry on Thursday in a video. “As a former athlete, I passionately believe in the rights of all Olympians to take part in fair competition.”
“The policy that we have announced is based on science and it has been led by medical experts with the best interests of athletes at its heart. The scientific evidence is very clear: male chromosomes give performance advances in sport that rely on strength, power, or endurance,” she added. “At the Olympic Games, even the smallest margins can be the difference between victory and defeat. So, it is absolutely clear that it would not be fair for biological males to compete in the female category. In addition, in some sports it would simply not be safe.”
(Video courtesy of the IOC)
Laurel Hubbard, a weightlifter from New Zealand, in 2021 became the first trans woman to compete at the Olympics.
Imane Khelif, an Algerian boxer, won a gold medal at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris. Khelif later sued JK Rowling and Elon Musk for cyberstalking after they questioned her gender identity.
Ellis Lundholm, a mogul skier from Sweden, this year became the first openly trans athlete to compete in any Winter Olympics when he participated in Milan Cortina Winter Olympics in Italy.
President Donald Trump in February 2025 issued an executive order that bans trans women and girls from female sports teams in the U.S.
The U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee last July banned trans women from competing in female sporting events. Republican lawmakers have demanded the IOC ban trans athletes from women’s athletic competitions.
“I’m grateful the Olympics finally embraced the common sense policy that women’s sports are for women, not for men,” said U.S. Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) on X.
An IOC spokesperson on Thursday referred the Washington Blade to the press release that announced the new policy.
More than a dozen LGBTQ athletes won medals at the Milan Cortina Winter Olympics that ended on Sunday.
Cayla Barnes, Hilary Knight, and Alex Carpenter are LGBTQ members of the U.S. women’s hockey team that won a gold medal after they defeated Canada in overtime. Knight the day before the Feb. 19 match proposed to her girlfriend, Brittany Bowe, an Olympic speed skater.
French ice dancer Guillaume Cizeron, who is gay, and his partner Laurence Fournier Beaudry won gold. American alpine skier Breezy Johnson, who is bisexual, won gold in the women’s downhill. Amber Glenn, who identifies as bisexual and pansexual, was part of the American figure skating team that won gold in the team event.
Swiss freestyle skier Mathilde Gremaud, who is in a relationship with Vali Höll, an Austrian mountain biker, won gold in women’s freeski slopestyle.
Bruce Mouat, who is the captain of the British curling team that won a silver medal, is gay. Six members of the Canadian women’s hockey team — Emily Clark, Erin Ambrose, Emerance Maschmeyer, Brianne Jenner, Laura Stacey, and Marie-Philip Poulin — that won silver are LGBTQ.
Swedish freestyle skier Sandra Naeslund, who is a lesbian, won a bronze medal in ski cross.
Belgian speed skater Tineke den Dulk, who is bisexual, was part of her country’s mixed 2000-meter relay that won bronze. Canadian ice dancer Paul Poirier, who is gay, and his partner, Piper Gilles, won bronze.
Laura Zimmermann, who is queer, is a member of the Swiss women’s hockey team that won bronze when they defeated Sweden.
Outsports.com notes all of the LGBTQ Olympians who competed at the games and who medaled.
Sports
US wins Olympic gold medal in women’s hockey
Team captain Hilary Knight proposed to girlfriend on Wednesday
The U.S. women’s hockey team on Thursday won a gold medal at the Milan Cortina Winter Olympics.
Team USA defeated Canada 2-1 in overtime. The game took place a day after Team USA captain Hilary Knight proposed to her girlfriend, Brittany Bowe, an Olympic speed skater.
Cayla Barnes and Alex Carpenter — Knight’s teammates — are also LGBTQ. They are among the more than 40 openly LGBTQ athletes who are competing in the games.
The Olympics will end on Sunday.
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