Calmversations s08e29 | Sex & Sport, with Linda Blade
Mar 2, 2026
Linda Blade, coach and former elite track-and-field athlete who champions sex-based rights in sport, returns to discuss gender policies at the Olympics. They cover condom culture in the athlete village, age limits and teen champions, the history and future of sex screening, Laurel Hubbard controversy, Paris 2024 scandals, and hopes for clear, uniform eligibility rules.
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Athlete Village Party Culture Interfered With Training
- Linda Blade describes the athlete village as a sexualized, party-filled environment where top athletes from every country mingle and condom shortages happen.
- She recounts bunking with teenage Canadian swimmers at the 1987 Pan Am Games while she focused on making the 1988 Olympic standard, highlighting clash of priorities.
How IOC Policy Moved From Screening To Self Identification
- The IOC shifted from sex screening toward self-identification policies, creating rules that presupposed inclusion and placed burden on women to prove male advantage.
- Blade traces policy changes from 1996 cheek-swabs to 2015 self-ID plus testosterone thresholds and shows how that produced Tokyo controversies.
Paris Boxing Scandal Exposed Policy Flaws
- Linda recounts the 2024 Paris boxing scandal where DSD athletes with active SRY genes were cleared by the IOC despite World Boxing classifying them as male.
- She describes how both athletes won gold in separate divisions and how that embarrassed the IOC and sponsors.