WORLD ATHLETICS

The task force created nearly eight years ago to chart Russia’s path back into track and field after its doping scandal holds its final meeting this week before being disbanded.

In a release, the organization stated that its new rules would exclude any male-to-female transgender athletes who have been through male puberty from taking part in female World Rankings competitions.

Russia and Kenya received encouraging news from track and field’s ruling body, though any possible reprieve for Russia was tempered by World Athletics’ intent to keep the country out of international meets until the war in Ukraine is over.

Kenya is facing the prospect of being banned from international athletics because of doping problems that authorities there say have reached “crisis” levels.

The leader of global track and field said it would have been “inconceivable” to have allowed Russians into this week’s world championships given the country’s war against Ukraine.

Bans on transgender women in swimming and rugby this week opened the door for track and field to consider following suit in what could turn into a wave of policy changes in Olympic sports.

Olympic great Sebastian Coe says sports federations have set precedents by banning Russian and Belarusian athletes from competition following the invasion of Ukraine and they must remain firm to keep them in place.

Transgender runner CeCe Telfer will not be allowed to compete in the women’s 400-meter hurdles at U.S. Olympic trials because Telfer has not met the conditions World Athletics established in its eligibility regulations for certain women’s events.

Olympic champion Caster Semenya has been sentenced to 50 hours of community service for speeding while driving.

The president of the Tokyo Olympic organizing committee says it would be “quite tough” for IOC President Thomas Bach to make a planned visit this month to Japan with a state of emergency order being extended by the government to Tokyo and other areas until May 31.

The South African's lawyers said there's been a “violation of her rights” and wants the human rights court to examine the rules. That second case will be central to her appeal to the European Court of Human Rights. Ad“I hope the European court will put an end to the longstanding human rights violations by World Athletics against women athletes," Semenya said in a statement. It's unclear if the human rights court would be able to hear Semenya's case before the delayed Tokyo Olympics, which might be Semenya's last. Previous sports cases that have gone to the European Court of Human Rights have taken years to be decided.

He's an International Olympic Committee member, a two-time Olympic champion, and the head of the governing body of track and field, known as World Athletics. “Athletes are a part of the world and they want to reflect the world they live in,” Coe said. Coe is in the Japanese capital on a courtesy visit to Tokyo Olympic organizers. Coe pitched Tokyo as a possible venue for a future track world championships. “We don’t know what will happen in the next few months,” Coe said, speaking about the Olympics.