throwaway486165

It's not as simple as it seems, the insider article focuses on average pace, but if you look at race winners more often than not its still a man, this difference in average is probably due to the higher number of men completing with a higher variance in ability.

I think it would be more truthful to say as distances increase the ability for women to complete with men also increases but we have not yet found a distance where women have a definite advantage.

This BBC article covering this topic does much better at explaining the state of affairs:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-49284389

This is in no way meant to disparage what any of these athletes, male or female. When it comes down to grim determination and pushing the human body to its very limits men and women are the same, but it is also telling that we need to get to this point of pain management and mental fortitude to level the playing field.

Sex not being binary is technically correct, the best kind of correct, but it misses the wood for the trees.

Most (but not every) step on that continuum are known as diseases of sexual development [0].

These arguments often come up in discussions around trans issues, but its a trick of misdirection, although the DSD community does have a higher incident of gender identity issues (which is what you'd expect), around 5%, 1% that actively changed their gender, the lack of transition within the DSD community seems to suggest DSD and gender dysphoria are not related phenomenon.

The idea that sex is a continuum, based on known disorders, is like saying human bipedalism is a continuum due to people being born with less than 2 full legs, or more than 2 legs (extra toes), or losing them in later life. Although technically correct the observation does not really change the conversation.

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disorders_of_sex_development

[1] https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29606626/

[edited for clarity] added: the lack of transition within the DSD community

>I don't think there's even any data to compare men vs. women in combat sports like boxing because anybody who has ever paid any attention to sports can tell you it's an awful idea.

Actually there is in the world of MMA. MtF fighter Fallon Fox dominated lots of biologically female fighters, in one particularly nasty incident it took her less than 3 minutes to give Tamikka Brents a concussion, a broken orbital, and leave her needing a bunch of staples to patch her skin back together [0].

If you do read the article, Tamikka Brents explains she is an abnormally strong woman, she is, but not compared to Fallon Fox. Tamikka Brents [1]. Tamikka Brents and Fallon Fox weigh in [2].

[0] https://www.attacktheback.com/transgender-mma-fighter-fallon... [1] https://www.sherdog.com/fighter/Tamikka-Brents-70699 [2] http://whoatv.com/fallon-fox-vs-tamikka-brents-fight-video/