It was once a commonsense belief and universal truth that men and women, boys and girls, are different, especially in the realm of athletics. With rare exceptions, men and women compete in their own categories, from high school level through college to the Olympic games and professional sports.

Mixed competitions place women and men on the same team, such as mixed doubles in tennis, or dancing, either in the ballroom, or on ice. Equestrian sports are an exception, but the fact that a horse is a major part of the sport reduces the sex difference between competitors.

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Based on strength and power, two major determinants of success for many sports, males have a clear advantage over females. For decades, this was not in dispute with rare exceptions, the most notable that of tennis player Renee Richards.

Richards is a kindred spirit of the author, not because “he” had sex change surgery to become a “she,” but because Richards was an ophthalmologist.

As a tennis player, Richards wanted to compete in the U.S. Open as a woman but was told 'no.' At least, until a New York State judge with a unique view of the law decided Richard could compete.

Forty years later, former President Donald Trump is contending with the next generation of New York judges reinventing the law. Richards did compete in the U.S. Open but lost in the first round.

Interestingly Sports Illustrated, at the time, called Richards “an extraordinary spectacle.” Today Sports Illustrated has a man, identifying as a woman, as a cover model for their swimsuit edition. My, how things have changed.

Now we have tampon dispensers in men’s rooms and a surprisingly widespread belief (delusion) that men can become pregnant.

What was this shocking scientific discovery that men and women are different in sport? As published recently in BMJ Open Sports and Exercise Medicine, “Study shows sex could be a better predictor of sports performance than gender identity.”

Ya think? From the paper’s results, in scientific lingo, “Natal-male non-binary athletes outperform natal-female non-binary athletes at a confidence level of p=0.1%.”

In plain language, this means that as athletes, men outperform women. No kidding. It’s basic biology.

The science, according to the International Olympic Committee is simple: “A number of scientific papers have recently shown people who have undergone male puberty retain significant advantages in power and strength even after taking medication to suppress their testosterone levels.”

Puberty is when boys differentiate from girls through muscle and bone mass, strength, and power. Once the athletic engine is built, adult testosterone levels matter little. This means that a trans female athlete keeping his testosterone level below a certain number isn’t relevant since he went through male puberty years earlier.

How about some examples:

!n the 2021 Olympic Trials, these differences were quite evident. In the 100-meter run, the winning time for men was 9.80 seconds compared to 10.86 seconds for women, a full second, or about 10 percent slower.

In swimming, the results were similar. Take the 200-meter breaststroke as one example. The winning men’s time was 2:07.55 compared to 2:21.07 for women, a 14-second difference, again about 10 percent slower.

If men and women competed equally in these sports, the Olympic team would be virtually all male, as even some of the slowest men’s qualifying times, posted by those nowhere near reaching the finals, would easily be Olympic medal times for women.

What about a sport requiring raw strength and power, like weightlifting? Compare men and women, similar in weight class, at the 2016 Rio Olympics.

The winning lift for +75 kg women was 307 kg, combining snatch and clean and jerk. For men in the 77 kg weight class, the winning total was 379 kg, 23 percent more.

Athletes have weighed in on these issues.

Former Olympic decathlon champion Bruce, now Caitlyn, Jenner has strong opinions, being on both sides of this controversy. Jenner recently told a reporter,

It’s a question of fairness. That’s why I oppose biological boys who are trans competing in girls’ sports in school. It just isn’t fair. And we have to protect girls’ sports in our schools.

Tennis legend Martina Navratilova agrees,

It’s insane and it’s cheating. I am happy to address a transgender woman in whatever form she prefers, but I would not be happy to compete against her. It would not be fair.

These are not fringe opinions from right-wing fanatics. Jenner is transgendered and Navratilova is a lesbian, both strong supporters of LGBT rights but also of athletic fairness, the latter lost on the woke left.

The tide may be turning. In uber-woke New Zealand, “Transgender athletes could be banned from publicly funded women’s sport under new Government policy.”

Not here though. “USA Boxing to allow biological men to compete against female boxers after introducing transgender policy.” Wait until a far stronger transwoman kills or maims a real woman in the boxing ring.

Do I exaggerate? Remember, “When transgender fighter Fallon Fox broke her opponent's skull in MMA fight”? This is abuse and should not be tolerated. Why aren’t the so-called “women’s rights groups” speaking out?

Is anyone following the science here? What did the BMJ say? “Natal-male non-binary athletes outperform natal-female non-binary athletes at a confidence level of p=0.1%.” The science is clear.

William Shakespeare, in Romeo and Juliet, summed it up 400 years ago, “A rose by any other name would smell as sweet.” In other words, a thing is what it is regardless of what one calls it.

A man is a man, and a woman is a woman. Claiming otherwise is magical thinking, fine for one to indulge personally, but not at an athletic, societal, or cultural level.

Otherwise, it’s a mockery of women’s sports, grossly unfair to woman and girl athletes who have sacrificed endless hours of practice to reach the pinnacle of their sport, only to have a man, claiming to be a woman,  snatching victories, championships, and medals away under false pretenses.

Brian C. Joondeph, M.D., is a physician and writer. Follow me on Twitter @retinaldoctor, Substack Dr. Brian’s Substack, Truth Social @BrianJoondeph, and LinkedIn @Brian Joondeph.