Sports, Gender and Trans–Part 2: the Cold War

Part 1: to 1945
Part 2: the Cold War
Part 3: recent developments


Accusations of gender impersonations became a weapon to be used, mainly by the US, in the Cold War in the 1960s and 1970s.  While the initial suspicions in the 1930s had been about Mark Weston and Zdenek Koubkov, they were long forgotten by the 1950s. The focus was on east European female athletes who were too butch.  The suspicions were taken to be confirmed when Iolanda Balas, Irana Press, Tamara Press, Tatyana Shchelkanova and Maria Itkina all retired after sex testing was brought in.  However if they were intersex women they would have known that they would fail the tests despite being women.

It was a co-incidence that Stella Walasiewicz/Walsh was murdered and thereby outed just before the Moscow Olympics in 1980.  Walsh was described as a man in many newspaper articles, but again was an intersex woman.  By that time 14 years of sex testing had shown that the tests were not actually catching any men in drag.  65 nations refused to compete at Moscow because of the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan (as we know such boycotts do not happen to all occupiers of Afghanistan).  As sex testing as been brought in as a way to attack the Soviet Union, why was sex testing done at the rump Olympics in Moscow?

Quite a few modern articles refer to  'gender verification' at the Olympics.  Gender is verified by asking for identity papers, which would be passports for all competitors except the home team.  Gender identity is verified by talking to the person.  What is verified by genital examination and DNA analysis is sex.  While only persons of female gender are subject to the testings, the testings are sex tests or sex verifications.

1946	Cis athlete Mildred Didrikson wins US Women’s Amateur Golf. IAAF introduces a rule requiring female competitors to bring a medical certificate.
1946 Oslo European Championship	Clair Bresolles and Léa Caurla. Silver in relay race. Both later became men.  Caurla also 3rd in 200 m.  Bressolles also 3rd in 100 m.
1947	Mildred Didrikson wins British Ladies Amateur Golf.
1948 London Olympics	IOC also requires female competitors to bring a medical certificate. Held while wartime rationing still in effect. Athletes are given increased rations, the same as those received by dockers and miners, which meant 5,467 calories a day, instead of the normal 2,600.  No new venues are built. 3714 male competitors, 390 female. Neither Germany is represented, nor is Japan.
1949	Foekje Dillema is named “athlete of the match” at a tournament in London. Laura Dillon  completes surgeries with Harold Gillies to become Michael.   Wins Sporting Blue for rowing at Trinity College, Dublin.
1950	Foekje Dillema runs 200 m in 24.1 seconds breaking the Dutch national record.  She and other women athletes are sent for a gynecological exam, and Foekje is declared not a woman, and expelled for life from competition. Mildred Didrikson voted "Greatest Female Athlete of the First Half of the Century".
1951	Roberta Cowell  has surgery with Harold Gillies. East Germany resents the West German Olympic Committee’s claim to represent both Germanys. ++Richard Raskind Eastern Indoor Male Tennis Champion
1952 Helsinki Olympics	Avery Brundage becomes IOC president. West Germany, but not East Germany competes. Japan returns. Soviet Union and Israel participate for the first time. Both Taiwan and China claim to be the Chinese team.  Taiwan withdraws.
1954	Roberta Cowell  publishes her autobiography. Maria Itkina Gold 200 m at Bern European Championships.
1950s	Tsutsumi Taeko,  Japanese athletics star, becomes Kiyotaka, a man.
1955	Maria Itkina 400m world record. ++Richard Raskind captain of Yale University Men's Tennis team.
1956	Mildred Didrikson dies of cancer at age 45. Maria Itkina world record for 220 m. ++Stella Walasiewicz/Walsh married boxer Neil Olson; they separated after eight weeks, but never divorced, and she continued to use his surname.
1956 Melbourne /Stockholm Olympics	The equestrian events are held in Stockholm  because of Australian quarantine regulations. 2938 male competitors, 376 female. Netherlands, Spain, and Switzerland refuse to attend because of the repression of the Hungarian uprising; Cambodia, Egypt, Iraq and Lebanon refuse because of the Suez war; The IOC recognises both China and Taiwan.  China withdraws because Taiwan enters. IOC requires that the two Germanys compete as one team. Maria Itkina 4th in 4 events.
1957	Heinrich Ratjen, a barman in Hamburg, says that he was Dora Ratjen, who had won medals in 1936 and 1938. Roberta Cowell wins hill climb.
1958	Maria Itkina Gold 400 m at Stockholm European Championship.
1959	Maria Itkina world record for 440 m.
1960 Rome Olympics	4727 male competitors, 611 female. Soviet gymnasts win 15 of 16 possible medals in women’s gymnastics. Irina Press Gold in hurdling for USSR Tamara Press Gold and Silver in shot-put for USSR Iolanda Balas Gold in long jump for Romania. Maria Itkina 4th in 3 events. Two British female athletes are accused in the press of being men. The two Germanys still required to compete as one team. Taiwan but not China participates. Avery Brundage accepted the word of South African officials that non-white athletes were allowed to compete, but they simply were not good enough.
1962	Sin Kim Dan for North Korea breaks women’s records for 400 m and 800 m. Maria Itkina Gold 200 m at Belgrade European Championships.
1963	In Moscow, other female sprinters refuse to run against Sin Kim Dan because she looks like a man. IOC suspends South Africa because of its racial policies.
1964	Mike Duff wins Belgian Motorcycle Grand Prix. ++Richard Raskind consults Harry Benjamin.
1964 Tokyo Olympics	4473 male competitors, 678 female. Irina Press Gold in Pentathlon for USSR Tamara Press Gold and Silver in shot-put for USSR. Ewa Kłobukowska Gold and Bronze in sprinting for Poland. Sin Kim Dan does not compete as North Korea is not in IAAF. Tatyana Shchelkanova Bronze in long jump for USSR Iolanda Balas Gold in long jump for Romania.
1965	Peter Drouyn wins the Australian Junior Surfing Championship, despite being assaulted the night before. Ewa Kłobukowska sets a world record for 100 metres with a time of 11.1 seconds.
1966 Budapest European Athletics Championships	Visual inspection sex testing of all 243 female athletes by 3 female doctors. Ewa Kłobukowska passes sex test and wins two gold medals. Iolanda Balas  attends only as a spectator, and then retires. A separate East German team recognized for the first time.
1966	Press sisters announce retirement. Tatyana Shchelkanova retires Maria Itkina retires Erika Schinegger world champion women’s downhill ski champion. British Empire and Commonwealth Games in Jamaica – female athletes were manually examined. Frank True.  Herald Tribune, 13 September: 17: “If the Commies hadn’t been guilty of substituting men for women in the first place, the new rule by the IAAF wouldn’t have been necessary”. Fanny Blankers-Koen (who had helped ruin Foekje Dillema’s career in 1950): The Milwaukee Journal, 31 August: 2: “I for one am glad that the girls have to submit to an examination … It was always unfair when a real girl was beaten by one who posed as a female.”
1967	Pan American Games in Winnipeg. Visual inspection sex testing of all female athletes. Avery Brundage’s IOC bans performance enhancing drugs, and introduces Barr Body sex test. Joana Nery Brazilian female diving champion. Peter Drouyn came second in the Australian Surfing Championship. Mike Duff second in Canadian Motorcycle Grand Prix.
1967 Kiev European Athletics Championship	Ewa Kłobukowska 2x Gold in sprinting for Poland. Fails Barr Body sex test.
1968	The Eligibility Code of the IOC Charter is modified to read: “No discrimination is allowed against any country or person on grounds of race, religion or political affiliation.”  No mention of sex or gender. ++Bruce Jenner wins football scholarship to Graceland College. Switches to decathlon because of a knee injury.
1968 Grenoble Winter Olympics.	947 male competitors, 211 female 1st Olympic sex verification: 50 out 240 female athletes tested. Erika Schinegger, skier, found to be XY and disqualified.  He accepts this and later transitions to male.
1968 Mexico City Olympics	The Tlatelolco massacre  of students and protesters just 10 days before the Olympics opens. Avery Brundage decides to continue with the Games. 4750 male competitors, 780 female. Barr Body sex test applied using a lottery system. US blacks and Czechoslovak athletes make political gestures about the repressions in their home countries. Ewa Kłobukowska fails sex test. Medals rescinded. Banned from competing.   Later marries and becomes a mother. East Germany finally as a separate team.  Rhodesian team not allowed into Mexico as per UN Security Council request.
1969	Peter Drouyn equal points with winner of the Australian Surfing Championship. Peter Wherrett drives in the 1969 Bathurst 1000 race for Mazda. Mike Duff wins Eastern Canadian Motorcycle Championship.
1970	Peter Drouyn wins Australian Open Surfing title. Peter Wherrett  drives in the 1969 Bathurst 1000 race for Ford. ++Bruce Jenner came 5th in Drake Relays decathlon. British Association of Sport and Medicine makes Barr Body testing available to sporting associations.  This also happens in most countries and no further athletes are failed by the test until 1985.
1972 Sapporo Winter Olympics	801 male competitors, 205 female. All female competitors subjected to a sex test.
1972 Munich Olympics	6075 male competitors, 1095 female. 960 female competitors subjected to a sex test. Exceptions only if had certificate that were tested at a previous Olympics. Rhodesia excluded by IOC. ++Bruce Jenner 10th in decathlon. 11 Israeli athletes, 1 police officer and 5 Black Septemberists killed during shootout. Avery Brundage, at his last Games as IOC President, decided that the Games were to continue after the shootout.
1973	Cis tennis champion Bobby Riggs claims that the female game is inferior and even at 55 he could beat top female player, but is defeated by lesbian Billie Jean King. ++Bruce Jenner graduates from Graceland College with a degree in physical education.
1974	Peter Wherrett drives in the 1969 Bathurst 1000 race for Alfa Romeo. Bill Smith, jockey and trainer, is outed as female-bodied on entering hospital.  He dies the next year. ++Bruce Jenner US men's decathlon champion, and on Track and Field News cover August issue.
1975	Peter Wherrett drives in the 1969 Bathurst 1000 race for Alfa Romeo. Stella Walasiewicz/Walsh inducted into the US Track and Field Hall of Fame. Renée Richards, amateur tennis player, completes transition. ++Bruce Jenner wins Franch national decathlon championship.  Also set new world record at event in Eugene, Oregon. ++Robin Mathy wins a wrestling scholarship to a junior college.
1976	Peter Wherrett drives in the 1969 Bathurst 1000 race for Alfa Romeo. 1st Gay Rodeo championships.  Includes a Miss Dusty Spurs for drag queens. Renée Richards banned from US Women’s Open as she will not submit to a chromosome test.  She sues.
1976 Innsbrook Winter Olympics	241 female competitors subjected to a sex test.
1976 Montreal Olympics	4781 male competitors, 1247 female. All female competitors have their sex verified with the exception of Anne Windsor of the UK equestrian team.   This exception is because her mommy is the Queen of Canada. ++Bruce Jenner dominates games with victories in several events.  He is awarded several US awards.  He then abandons amateur status, and monetizes his fame. (see 2015 in Part III).   South Africa and Rhodesia banned because of their racist policies. Taiwan also withdraws because not allowed to call itself Republic of China. 28 African nations boycot the Games because the IOC refuses to bar New Zealand after its rugby tour of South Africa. It will take 30 years for Montreal to pay off the debt incurred by the Games.
1977	Joana becomes João W. Nery, surgery by Roberto Farina. Renée Richards wins the right to play without submitting to testing.  She ranks 22nd. She reachs doubles finals in US Open, and wins 35-and-over women’s singles.
1978	16-year-old Chris Dale climbs the Old Man of Stoer without a rope. 1st true female body building contest in Ohio, that is based on musculature rather beauty. ++Frank Maloney working as professional boxing trainer.
1979	Renée Richards wins 25-and-over singles title at US Open.
1980	Stella Walasiewicz/Walsh is shot as a bystander during a robbery in Cleveland.  She is found to be intersex.  The U.S. Olympic Committee announces that there would be no attempt to posthumously retract Walsh's Olympic medals. ++Robin Mathy is a candidate to the 1980 USA Olympic Team in Freestyle Wrestling. ++Bruce Jenner inducted into National Track and Field Hall of Fame.
1980 Moscow Olympics	Coincided with Ramadan.  4064 male competitors, 1115 female. 995 female competitors subjected to a sex test.  Another 200 had certificates from a previous Olympics. Of 9292 drug tests, none were positive. 65 nations refuse to compete because of Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.  29 of these countries hold an alternate Liberty Bell Classic Games in Philadelphia.  Rhodesia returns to the Olympic Games as Zimbabwe. Ludwig Prokep of the IOCMC claims that some ‘third world’ athletes have failed the sex tests.  This is quickly denied by the IOCMC chair. Jarmila Kratochvílová Silver in 400m for Czechoslovakia.
1981	Chris Dale makes a bold first ascent in Australia’s Blue Mountains. First woman accepted into IOC.
1980s	++James Hayes wins over 500 regional and national champion-ships in go-kart, midget, and sprint racing, and  then competes in NASCAR Winston Cup. Judy Cousins active golfer at Stoke Poges and in the higher ranks of UK women's amateur golf.
1982 1st Gay Games – San Francisco 1983	1350 competitors. As it had done with the Women’s Games in 1926, the IOC vetoes the use of the word “Olympics”. ++Renée Richards 1st autobiography, Second Serve.
1983 Helsinki inaugural  Athletic World Championships	Jarmila Kratochvílová 2 Golds 400 m 800 m..  Accused of either taking male steroids or being male, although passes Barr Body test.
1984	Kia Sladeski declared Rookie Cowgirl of the Year, but is outed as male-born by folks in her home town. The American Rodeo Association announces that if Kia has completed a sex-change operation, there will be no problem. Either way she will be allowed to keep her rodeo earnings.
1984 Sarajevo Winter Olympics	262 female competitors subjected to a sex test. China finally participates.
1984 Los Angeles Olympics	15 east European nations refuse to attend in retaliation for the 1980 boycott, and hold alternate Friendship Games. 5263 male competitors, 1566 female. 1610 female competitors subjected to a sex test, 4 fail. 11 fail drug tests.  China finally participates.  Taiwan also as Chinese Taipei.
1985 Kobe World University Games	Maria Jose Martinez Patino, Spanish hurdler, found to be XY AIS.  Struggles for 3 years to persuade IOS to re-instate her.  Given certificate of femininity to exempt her from further testing.
1985	Peter Drouyn introduces surfing in China. Cis athlete Bev Francis denied a win in female body building contest in Las Vegas because of low score on ‘femininity’. ++Malcolm McGregor, rugby player, cricket commentator, diagnosed as transgender, but drinks and marries instead.
1986 Madrid European Games	Heidi Kreiger, unknowingly on male steroids, Gold in shot-put for DDR.
1986 Gay Games II – San Francisco 1986	3,482 competitors.  Many are HIV+ and will not compete again. ++TV movie Second Serve based on biography by Renée Richards, with Vanessa Redgrave as Renée Richards. ++Bruce Jenner inducted into Olympic Hall of Fame.
1987	Mike Duff completes transition as Michelle. Charlotte Wood, finishes third in US Senior Women’s Golf Amateur contest, and reaches semifinals of US Women's Mid-Amateur. She did not reveal that she is trans until questioned.  In reaction the US and many other Golf Associations add ‘female at birth’ requirement for women’s tournaments.
1988	Erik Schinegger,  women’s downhill champion 1968, appears on Austrian television and gives his gold medal to the woman who came second. IAAF drops Barr Body testing in favour of a manual/visual check by a doctor.
1988 Calgary Winter Olympics	1122 male competitors, 301 female.  296 female competitors subjected to a sex test.
1988 Seoul Olympics 1989	A Spanish professor presents the medical evidence to the Olympic Medical Commission that AIS women such as Maria Jose Martinez Patino,  cannot use the testosterone in their bodies, and have no unfair advantage. 8391 male competitors, 2194 female. 2200 female competitors subjected to a sex test. Cis Canadian Sprinter Ben Johnson and 2 cis Bulgarian weightlifters win gold but disqualified after drug tests.  North Korea, after failed negotiations to be a joint host, boycots, and is supported by Albania, Cuba, Madagascar & Seychelles. Defending cis diving champion, HIV+ Greg Lougania, hits the board and bleeds into the pool, but does not admit he is HIV+. For the first time, all dressage events are won by women. ++Frank Maloney becomes manager of boxer Lennox Lewis.