JK Rowling slams transgender handball player who hopes to play against women at Olympics

Rowling, who has been in favor of keeping women's sports fair, responded on social media.

"Man fears he won't be allowed to cheat his way to the Olympics by playing against women," Rowling wrote on X. "Man says anti-cheat sentiment is being 'weaponized' against men like him, who cheat. Read more here about why the cheating man is sad and why the women he might injure just don't matter."

Mouncey dismissed the notion that transgender athletes had an advantage over females.

"There's this idea that trans athletes have an unfair advantage, but the results don't show that," Mouncey said. "I've always believed in fairness and restrictions where needed, but blanket bans are not the answer."

The International Handball Federation's transgender policy went into effect in 2022.

The policy stated that transgender athletes to compete against female athletes "must demonstrate to the satisfaction of the Expert Panel (on the balance of probabilities), in accordance with clause 4, that the concentration of testosterone in her serum has been less than 5 nmol/L1 continuously for a period of at least 12 months; and she must keep her serum testosterone concentration below 5 nmol/L for so long as she continues to compete in the female category of competition."

Additionally, the policy stated that the athlete will need "a test result from at least 12 months but not earlier than 14 months prior to the athlete's first competition which indicates that the transgender female athlete's total testosterone level in serum was below 5 nmol/L" and "an affidavit from a medical professional stating that the transgender female athlete's total testosterone level in serum has been below 5 nmol/L for at least 12 months prior to the athlete's first competition."