During these past two-plus years, common sense has taken a back seat to the ideology of trans women competing in women’s sports. Across the nation, high school and college female athletes have been pushed down a step, or off the podium altogether, by a biological male competing as a trans woman.

In one case it was for the state high jump title, in another for the hurdles championship. From Lia Thomas in NCAA swimming to Blair Fleming competing in NCAA volleyball, women were denied an opportunity for a place on a team or the podium for a championship. All of this was considered “fair” in the name of inclusion.

Women’s sports were created and funded because it was common knowledge that competing against men was not a level playing field; knowledge based on biological science. Judith Butler’s books on transgenderism helped to create the notion that hormone therapy on biological males would allow a trans woman to fairly compete against women.

Today’s advocates for this trans women competing in women’s sports say that there is no evidence of unfairness. I believe they make this statement based on the small sample to do a study. But evidence exists and it has been ignored.

On every level of competition in track and field, school records for boys are superior. There may be an outlier at the high school level (Katelyn Touhey), but in matching events men are faster, farther and higher. All world records demonstrate the same difference.

Implements and equipment are different. Women’s hurdles are 33 inches, men’s are 39 inches and 42 inches. High school shot put is 8.8 pounds. for women, 12 pounds for men. Women’s discus is 1.0 kilograms, men’s is 1.6 kilograms. Women’s javelin is 600 grams, men’s is 800 grams.

Physical fitness tests at every level, worldwide, have different criteria for each test. The men’s threshold is greater than the women’s.

At the middle school level, closer to actual puberty, and the closest to a time in human development when boys and girls may perform closer to each other, the starting height in the high jump is 3 feet 8 inches for girls and 4 feet 2 inches for boys.

What follows is my evidence that the entire case for trans women does not hold water.

Between 1958 and 1966, Tamara Press of the Soviet Union was the world record holder in the shot put and the discus. She was far superior than her competition and rumors flew in every direction as to her use of steroids (testosterone). The entire Soviet program and the Communist Eastern bloc were suspected of the same use. At the time, drug testing was not a common practice.

With that being said, here is a comparison of the men’s and women’s records for shot put and discus in 1964 after the Tokyo Olympics: Women’s: Tamara Press (CCCP), Shot (8.8 pounds), 56 feet 10 inches/Discus (1.0 kilograms), 187 feet 6 inches. Men’s: Dallas Long (USA), Shot (16 pounds), 66 feet, 8 inches/Ludvik Danek (CZ), Discus (2.0 kilograms), 211 feet, 9 inches.

Despite the fact that she was throwing half the weight, she still came nowhere near matching the men’s records.

To this day, Marita Koch of East Germany and Jarmila Kratochvilova of Czechoslovakia hold the 400 meter (1986) and the 800 meter (1983) records, respectively. They were both under clouds of suspicion in the “hormone therapy” department. Despite that, the difference between men’s and women’s world records is 5 seconds in the 400 meter and 12 seconds in the 800 meter.

In 1966, the IAAF, world governing body for athletics, instituted a program to test gender and drug use in athletes who set records in an effort to answer the rumors. Three weeks before the program was set to begin, Tamara Press and her sister, Irina Press, a world class pentathlete and hurdler, retired from track and field, reportedly to take care of their ailing mother.

The evidence is clear and has been throughout this entire period of denying girls and women the fair, level playing field that they deserve. An executive order should not have been needed when we had science, history and common sense to inform our decisions.