On a day when World Athletics announced a plan to introduce DNA tests to protect the women's sports category, it's worth noting that this would be a re-introduction as far as the IOC goes: cheek-swab sex tests are nothing new, though they are even simpler and more accurate today than they ever were.

Here's a short extract from Unfair Play by Sharron Davies, with me: a reminder of the history of sex testing, or biological verification, in Olympic women's sport:

1. 1948 to 1964: Women were required to arrive at major competitions with a medical certificate from their home country verifying their sex.
2. 1966 to 1967: Women were required to parade naked before a panel of gynaecologists before competitions so that sex could be confirmed depending on the appearance of genitalia.
3. 1968 to 1992: Women were obliged by the IOC to submit to what was often, as it was in my case, a once-in-a-lifetime sex-verification test. A cheek swab was taken from all female athletes arriving at a major competition who didn’t already have a sports-issued certificate. The cells in the swab were tested for chromosomal BARR, the presence of which is assumed to identify a multiple X chromosome, or XX, female. 
4. 1976 to today: Women and men have to submit to random anti-doping tests designed to detect elevated testosterone levels as well as other banned substances, and of the performance enhancing pharmaceuticals in an out of competition. This is far more intrusive than any cheek sex swab and, of course, is mandatory. 
5. 1992 to 1999: Women were asked to submit to genetic testing designed to detect the SRY gene located on the Y chromosome. If it was there, the athlete was deemed to be male. At the Atlanta 1996 Olympics, eight women tested positive for the SRY gene but were still allowed to compete.
6. 2003 to 2015: Women’s sport was no longer ring-fenced for female athletes after the IOC allowed males identifying as women access to female sports two years after sex-reassignment surgery, including a gonadectomy or removal of testes, and a certificate confirming the sex reassignment. 
7. 2015-2021: It’s Open Season in female sport. Surgery is no longer required for male athletes who identify as women to compete with female athletes. We look at that game-changing decision by the IOC in chapter 5.

Says Sharron:

"I think it was a mistake to remove sex verification tests. For me, it was just a quick, painless cheek swab on the inside of my mouth. It was once in a lifetime because the cells on the inside of your cheek will remain the same throughout life, no matter what you do or what surgery you might have. We got a little card and you were approved for female racing. That was it. It wasn’t at all intrusive or humiliating. And it’s no good people saying these things are not reliable or that DSD people are affected. The test is to show who is biologically female. You can’t say it's fair if you don’t test for doping. You can't say it's fair if you don’t test to see if anyone in the competition has male physiological advantage."

Also in Unfair Play:

A survey of female athletes at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics [courtesy of Cathy Devine] asked whether they thought testing a female should be continued in the future and whether or not testing procedures made them anxious. The result: Of the 928 athletes who responded, 82% felt that testing should be continued and 94% indicated that they were not made anxious by the procedure. Forty six athletes were made anxious by the testing requirements that preceded their competitive events.

• Unfair Play - the Battle For Women's Sport

And further reading in books, line Unfair Play, stacked with the material and references and names of experts that would help Kirsty Coventry bypass a task force and get to the action required:

• Unsporting - How Trans Activism And Science Denial Are Destroying Sport 
• "Socrates and the Gender Debate", Andrew Duncan:

Why Socrates Has The Antidote To Toxic Gender Debate Fuelled By Misogyny & Manipulation

In his new book “Socrates and the Gender Debate”, Andrew Duncan applies the Greek philosopher’s logic to questions less thorny than they might be if only we stuck to the truth in the face of an intransigent trans lobby insisting on access to realms where the rights of women are trampled on

State Of Swimming +Craig Lord

And, from the SOS Archive, one of the key minds who constantly brings science and truth to the table - Dr. Emma Hilton:

Fond Of Women’s Sport: Dr. Emma Hilton & The Science That Shows Why Biological Sex Not Gender Choice Says Who Swims As Man Or Woman

Listen and watch as Dr. Emma Hilton, Sharron Davies and others nail the case for ring-fencing women’s sport for female athletes only

State Of Swimming +Craig Lord

Dr. Emma Hilton is also among the many experts who contributed to this font of knowledge available to Coventry and the IOC should they wish to engage with truth:

Open access: The International Olympic Committee framework on fairness, inclusion and nondiscrimination on the basis of gender identity and sex variations does not protect fairness for female athletes

The authors the IOC should engage with:

Tommy R. Lundberg, Ross Tucker, Kerry McGawley, Alun G. Williams, Grégoire P. Millet, Øyvind Sandbakk, Glyn Howatson, Gregory A. Brown, Lara A. Carlson, Sarah Chantler, Mark A. Chen, Shane M. Heffernan, Neil Heron, Christopher Kirk, Marie H. Murphy, Noel Pollock, Jamie Pringle, Andrew Richardson, Jordan Santos-Concejero, Georgina K. Stebbings, Ask Vest Christiansen, Stuart M. Phillips, Cathy Devine, Carwyn Jones, Jon Pike, Emma N. Hilton …