Sex verification in sports occurs because eligibility of athletes to compete is restricted whenever sporting events are limited to a single sex, which is generally the case, as well as when events are limited to mixed-sex teams of defined composition. Practice has varied tremendously over time, across borders and by competitive level. Issues have arisen multiple times in the Olympic games and other high-profile sporting competitions, for example allegations that certain male athletes attempted to compete as women or that certain female athletes had intersex conditions perceived to give unfair advantage. The topic of sex verification is related to the more recent question of how to treat transgender people in sports. Sex verification is not typically conducted on athletes competing in the male category.
Janeth Jepkosgei Busienei is a Kenyan middle distance runner and former world champion.
Jennifer Brenda "Jenny" Meadows is a retired British athlete. Her main event was the 800 metres, although she previously competed also over the 400 metres. She won the bronze medal at the 2009 World Championships, and a silver at the 2010 World Indoor Championships. At the European Athletics Championships, Meadows took silver outdoors in 2010 and gold indoors in 2011. She also had some international success as part of the Great Britain women's 4 x 400 metres relay squad.
Michael Robert Christopher Mason is a Canadian high jumper. The 2004 World Junior champion, he has represented Canada at the 2008 Summer Olympics, 2008 IAAF World Indoor Championships, 2010 Commonwealth Games, 2012 Summer Olympics, 2014 Commonwealth Games, 2014 IAAF World Indoor Championships and the 2015 Pan American Games. His personal best for the event is 2.33 metres.
Mariya Sergeyevna Savinova is a Russian former athlete who specialized in the 800-metres event. In 2017, she was found guilty of doping and was subsequently suspended from competition for four-years. In addition to the ban, she had three years of elite results nullified and was stripped of both her World Championship medals and her 2012 Olympic gold medal.
Yuliya Krevsun is a Ukrainian middle-distance running athlete who specialises in the 800 metres. She is a member of Fenerbahçe Athletics club in Turkey.
The women's 800 metres at the 2009 World Championships in Athletics was held at the Olympic Stadium on 16, 17 and 19 August. Prior to the championships, there was no clear favourite for the race – the twenty fastest times of the season had been run by seventeen different athletes. The reigning World and Olympic champions, Janeth Jepkosgei and Pamela Jelimo, had not shown the dominance of previous seasons. The two fastest runners of the season, Caster Semenya and Maggie Vessey, had recently set personal bests but lacked any major championships experience, while third best Anna Alminova was a 1500 metres specialist. European Indoor Champion Mariya Savinova and Svetlana Klyuka, fourth at the Olympics, were other strong competitors. The 2007 World medallists Hasna Benhassi and Mayte Martínez, and Olympic finalist Yuliya Krevsun were also predicted as medal possibilities.
Mokgadi Caster Semenya OIB is a South African middle-distance runner and winner of two Olympic gold medals and three World Championships in the women's 800 metres. She first won gold at the World Championships in 2009 and went on to win at the 2016 Olympics and the 2017 World Championships, where she also won a bronze medal in the 1500 metres. After the doping disqualification of Mariya Savinova, she was also awarded gold medals for the 2011 World Championships and the 2012 Olympics.
Lynsey Sharp is a Scottish track and field athlete who competes in the 800 metres. She is the 2012 European champion and represented Great Britain at the 2012 Olympic Games in London. She won a silver medal at the 2014 Commonwealth Games. Her personal best is 1:57.69, the seventh fastest time over 800m by a British woman, set in the final of the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.
Francine Niyonsaba is a Burundian runner who specialized in the 800 metres and shifted to longer distances in 2019. She was the 2016 Rio Olympics silver medalist in the women's 800 metres. Her silver medal was the first Olympic medal for Burundi since 1996. Niyonsaba won a silver in the event at the 2017 World Championships.
Dutee Chand is an Indian professional sprinter and current national champion in the women's 100 metres event. She is the first Indian to win a gold medal in 100m race in a global competition. She is the third Indian woman to ever qualify for the Women's 100 metres event at the Summer Olympic Games. However, in the 2016 Summer Olympics, her 11.69 s in the preliminary round did not qualify her for the next round. In 2018, Chand clinched silver in women's 100m at the Jakarta Asian Games. It was India's first medal in this event since 1998. In 2019, she became the first Indian sprinter to win gold at the Universiade, clocking 11.32 seconds in the 100 m race.
The women's 800 metres event at the 2016 Summer Olympics took place between 17–20 August at the Olympic Stadium.
Margaret Nyairera Wambui is a Kenyan middle-distance runner specialising in the 800 metres.
Morgan Mitchell is an Australian athlete who specialized in the 400 metres and now competes in the 800 metres.
Lindsey Butterworth is a Canadian middle-distance runner. She competed in the women's 800 metres at the 2017 World Championships in Athletics. She also competed at the 2019 World Championships in Athletics, reaching the semi-final in the women's 800 metres. Named to the Canadian team for the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Butterworth was fifth in her heat of the 800 metres and did not advance to the semi-finals.
Melissa Courtney-Bryant is a British middle- and long-distance runner. She won the bronze medal in the 1500 metres at the 2018 Commonwealth Games and bronze for the 3000 metres at the 2019 and 2023 European Indoor Championships.
The testosterone regulations in women's athletics are a series of policies first published in 2011 by the IAAF and last updated following a court victory against Caster Semenya in May 2019. The first version of the rules applied to all women with high testosterone, but the current version of the rules only apply to athletes with certain XY disorders of sexual development, and set a 5 nmol/L testosterone limit, which applies only to distances between 400 m and 1 mile (inclusive), other events being unrestricted.
Christine Mboma is a Namibian sprinter who competes in the 100 metres and 200 m. At the age of 18, she won a silver medal in the 200 metres at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, becoming the first ever Namibian woman to win a women's Olympic medal and breaking the world under-20 and African senior record. Mboma also won the event at the 2021 World Under-20 Championships and Diamond League final, improving her record mark to 21.78 seconds.
Madeleine Kelly is a Canadian track and field athlete specializing in the middle distance events.
