Olympic athletes are probably used to being tested, for steroids and other performance-enhancing drugs. But an entire lab in Beijing will be dedicated to testing suspicious athletes for gender.
This is actually nothing new - the first Olympics to test for sex was the Mexico City Games, in 1968. Officials feared Eastern European countries might be fielding disguised male athletes in the women's events.
This whole thing sounds crazy to me. The first step is a completely subjective, stereotypical selection of females of "questionable" appearance (read: butch). This is followed by blood, genetic and hormone tests. Certain chromosomal abnormalities can cause women to fail these tests - which happened at the 1996 Atlanta games, when eight female athletes failed. Upon direct physical examination, however, all the athletes were declared, in fact, to be women.
So why not skip the expensive and time consuming blood tests, and just make all the athletes drop their drawers for a brief, non-invasive exam? That way, no one is singled out or judged for her appearance, and no cheaters will be missed because they look appropriately feminine.
And if you think that simply checking out the equipment won't catch transsexuals, you're right - but that's okay, because transsexuals were cleared to compete in the Olympics in 2004, for the Athens Games. Regulations require that transsexual athletes have been on hormone treatments for at least two years prior to participating, which officials claim reduces the physical advantages of muscle mass and testosterone levels that males have over females in athletic competition.
