British Olympian Sharron Davies has led fresh criticism of transgender policies across sport.
The 59-year-old has been a vocal critic of transgender women taking part in sporting events – arguing that they have a genetic advantage over competitors who were born female.
British Rowing has faced a huge backlash recently for its decision to allow trans women to compete in female events with other sports weighing up their gender policies, alongside World Athletics.
Ex-Team GB silver medalist Davies was speaking at the Filia Feminist Conference alongside Mara Yamauchi when she demanded more protection for women athletes moving forward.
"In every single medal I've ever won there was an East German in front of me who was on drugs. I know how it feels to be cheated out of medals when you could do nothing about it. No matter how hard I trained, six hours a day, I could not bridge that gap," she said.
“I don't want that to happen to another generation of young females. Why are we having to have Lia Thomases before we step back and go – there is a difference between male and female biology? This is just crazy.”
Yamauchi added: "All these national governing bodies saying, yes, males can compete in women's sport, it's completely bonkers to me. I just don't know how we're in this situation.
“The fact of the matter is that now in the UK, boxing and rugby – as much as my understanding – are the only sports in which the women's category is for females only… So it's fair to say that women's sport does not exist. This is not an exaggeration.”
The likes of British Triathlon have come forward to protect women athletes who were born female at birth and Yamauchi believes the advantage is stark for trans-competitors.
She added: "All these policies which allow males into the female category, define eligibility for the female category on levels of testosterone,” she said.
“You never see mentioned in the policies about everything to do with having a female body which affects sports performance – menstruation and pregnancy, childbirth, breastfeeding, abortion, endometriosis, all these things.
“So to say that the only difference between males and females is the level of testosterone in an adult male – I can't even put into words how ludicrous it is.”
