Olympic champion Edwin Moses on covid-19, race and trans athletes

Impact of Pandemic on Global Sport

• The Tokyo 2020 Olympics were postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic, disrupting the world's largest sporting event.
• A member of the Japanese organizing committee warned that if conditions do not improve significantly, the games may remain suspended beyond 2021.
• Former US Olympic hurdler Edwin Moses anticipates that safely assembling global athletes under current health conditions is unfeasible, even for the Tokyo 2020 and Beijing 2022 events.
• Athletes face significant physical and psychological stress, echoing Moses' own experience of the US-led boycott of the 1980 Moscow Olympics.

Athletic Protest and Social Change

• Moses argues that political expression in sports is organic rather than premeditated, citing the 1968 Black Power salute by John Carlos and Tommy Smith as an example.
• He contends that athletes possess the same rights as other professionals (doctors, lawyers) to express views on racism, disease, war, and refugees.
• Recent gestures, such as the WNBA and NBA displaying "Black Lives Matter" and "All Lives Matter," are viewed as tools to educate the public on historical and systemic issues.
• Moses notes that societal progress regarding civil rights has been non-linear, with significant advancements followed by recent rollbacks via Supreme Court decisions in the last 20 years.
• He posits that race is often used as a subliminal tool to divide Americans, suggesting that class and economic struggle are equally critical factors affecting minorities and poor whites.
• Despite persistent challenges, Moses observes that opportunities for African Americans today are 300–500% greater than during his youth, citing access to roles in investment banking and Fortune 500 CEO positions.

Anti-Doping and International Challenges

• As chair of the US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA), Moses identifies Russia's systemic doping culture as a primary global concern, describing their protocols as designed to help athletes evade detection.
• Moses disputes the philosophy that international athletes should use substances if they know rivals are doing so, having previously discussed drug use with German and Russian athletes as a competitive necessity.
• While anti-doping efforts are improving in the West to root out common, powerful substances, a "cat-and-mouse" dynamic persists with evolving drug technologies.

Transgender and Intersex Athlete Policies

• The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has delayed rulings on transgender and intersex athletes until after the Tokyo Games.
• Moses criticizes the initial International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) ruling that required Caster Semenya to medically lower her natural testosterone, calling it wrong.
• He characterizes Semenya's case as involving a biological male who lived as a woman due to no fault of their own, noting her performance advantage stems from testosterone levels comparable to the average male.
• Moses supports maintaining distinct men's and women's categories based on biological sex differences, particularly regarding testosterone production.
• He expresses uncertainty regarding the ethics of his daughter competing against athletes with a biological makeup significantly different from the female range, while acknowledging the moral complexity of medication mandates.
• He suggests the IOC is currently "head in the ground" regarding these biological definitions and the need to address them directly.

Sport as a Tool for Personal Development

• Moses advises that becoming a better athlete is less about physical speed and more about mental positioning and personal development.
• He posits that the discipline and receptivity to information gained through sports translate into life skills applicable to academic and professional success.