[Cerek the Barbaric]

Originally posted by True_Moose: The IOC is kind of slow. I remember for awhile, they would ban women and men athletes for having different chromosomes (something like 1 in 1000 women are born naturally with XXY.) They're not a brilliant organisation. I don't have a moral problem with them competing, but I may have a fair play issue. I am in an intense hockey training program right now, and I can tell you that I have a natural physical advantage, in terms of strength, over the girls in my group. Don't get me wrong, they can overcome it with more work, but I have more of a natural gift. I wonder if it's really fair if a man gets really bulked up, to the point he can compete in the Olympics, and then has a sex change. What about the natural women, who are inherently put at a disadvantage?

According to the article, the two years of required hormone therapy after the operation is supposed to eliminate - or at least minimize - the natural physical advantage men have over women.

As I said, my surprise was that the hormone therapy did not disqualify the athletes automatically. But I guess hormone therapy is not the same as "perfomance enhancement".