A Woman Tried and Tested
A Woman Tried and Tested
A Woman Tried and Tested
From 1968 to 2000 women athletes had to undergo went to the best doctors. I attended all appointments
genetic testing to prove their sex before they could alone, however, because I hadn’t the heart to tell my
compete. From its inception, medical experts questioned parents something was wrong (they were still grieving for
the ethics and efficacy of this policy. As an athlete, I my brother) and because my federation was at a loss about
believe it added an obstacle to the already demanding what to do until the karyotype result came through.
course that women had to take to participate in sport. 2 months on, the letter arrived: “All of the 50 counted cells
I was born and raised in northern Spain. I had the life of by Giemsa staining had 46 chromosomes. Karyotype
a normal girl, except that I had an affinity for running and analysis by Q-banding method revealed her sex
María José Martínez-Patiño was a jumping. I excelled in athletics and competed at the chromosome constitution is XY. Karyotype is decided 46,
national champion hurdler in national level, but only because of concentrated effort and XY”. I have androgen insensitivity, and don’t respond to
Spain. She retired from sport in
1992, and studied political
training. I was overjoyed to be able to participate in the testosterone. When I was conceived, my tissues never
science and sports science. Her 1983 World Track and Field Championships in Helsinki, heard the hormonal messages to become male.
doctoral thesis analyses the Finland, when I was 22 years old. There I passed my first As I was about to enter the January, 1986, national
changing role of women in sport sex test, and was given a Certificate of Femininity. championships, I was told to feign an injury and to
and the difficulties they face. She
teaches at the University of Vigo,
In 1985, I went to the World University Games in Kobe, withdraw from racing quietly, graciously, and
Spain, and lectures worldwide. Japan. Unfortunately I forgot my certificate, and my permanently. I refused. When I crossed the line first in
University of Vigo, Faculty of buccal smear test for two X chromosomes had to be the 60 m hurdles, my story was leaked to the press. I was
Education and Sports Science, repeated. Later that day, our team doctor told me—in expelled from our athletes’ residence, my sports
Vigo 36002, Pontevedra, Spain front of the team mates I sat with on the night before my scholarship was revoked, and my running times were
(Prof M J Martínez-Patiño MD)
race—that there was a problem with my result. At the erased from my country’s athletics records. I felt ashamed
Correspondence to:
hospital the next day, I learned that a sophisticated and embarrassed. I lost friends, my fiancé, hope, and
Prof María Martínez-Patiño
mjpatino@uvigo.es karyotype analysis would be undertaken, and that the energy. But I knew that I was a woman, and that my
results would take months to reach my sports federation genetic difference gave me no unfair physical advantage. I
in Spain. I would be unable to compete in that day’s race. could hardly pretend to be a man; I have breasts and a
Our team doctor advised me to consult with a specialist vagina. I never cheated. I fought my disqualification.
when I got home, and urged me in the meantime to fake Over the next 2 years, I received letters of support from
an injury, so that no-one would suspect anything Albert de la Chapelle, a Finnish geneticist who was an
untoward. I was shocked, but did as I was told. I sat in the early, vocal opponent of blanket chromosome testing, and
stands that day watching my team mates, wondering how from Alison Carlson (see Essay page S39), an American
my body differed from theirs. I spent the rest of that week coach and journalist who educated athletes about the
in my room, feeling a sadness that I could not share. My ethical difficulties of gender verification. She helped me to
mind spun: did I have AIDS? Or leukaemia, the disease tell my story in the press. A sympathetic Spanish
that had killed my brother? professor gathered my medical evidence and presented
Back in Spain, I began trying to come to terms with the scientific reasons why my case should be reviewed
what was happening. Growing up, neither my family nor during the Olympic Medical Commission meetings at the
I had any idea that I was anything other than normal. I Games in Seoul, 1988. They all encouraged me in my
endeavour to change the regulations and the mindset of
sports administrators about perceived advantage in
women with congenital differences. Coverage of my case
helped to trigger the end of chromosome-based testing.
In 1988, the medical chairman of the International
Federation for Athletics, Arne Ljungqvist, gave me licence
to run again. I paid a high price for my licence—my story
was told, dissected, and discussed in a very public way—
and my victory was bittersweet. After 3 years away from
sports, my momentum was lost. I trained, hoping to
qualify for the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona, Spain, but
missed the mark at the trials by ten hundredths of a
second. I have helped other sportswomen with genetic
variance participate without fear, however, and my
experience has made me stronger; having had my
womanliness tested—literally and figuratively—I suspect
María José Martínez-Patiño’s certificate of femininity I have a surer sense of my femininity than many women.