It’s disappointing to see the Beijing Olympics veering back into gender testing — which was supposedly abandoned in 1999 by the IOC.  But their move is not surprising.  The Chinese are applying “The Art of War” to international sports in a classic way.

They want to win piles of medals and prove their superiority as an emerging world power.  As the host country that sets policy for these Games, they have surely scoured their own team, to make sure all karyotypes conform to XX and XY.  However, their late announcement that they intend to test will place other countries at a psychological disadvantage.  These countries have already selected their teams, and some of those selectees might not pass the test.  So it will constitute a pre-competition strategy for Chinese authorities to summon any athlete they choose for testing.  Even if that individual passes the test, her psyche may be jarred and she may not perform as well.  Imagine the anxiety of waiting for test results, when you know that loss of your career, your previous medals, might result.

If you were afraid these Beijing Olympics may be taking a step back in time 40 years, they’ve given another reason for concern. Chinese officials say they have created a system for checking the sex and gender of athletes who participate as females but whose gender is in question. From The Guardian:

“Suspected athletes will be evaluated from their external appearances by experts and undergo blood tests to examine their sex hormones, genes and chromosomes for sex determination,” says Professor Tian Qinjie. The tests will not be conducted on every female athlete, but will be required if serious doubts have been raised about an individual competitor - invariably one competing in the women’s events. “The aim is to protect fairness at the games while also protecting the rights of people with abnormal sexual development,” he says.