NPR Issues Correction, Admits There Is Evidence Proving Male Athletes Have Advantage over Females

NPR issued an official correction following a story published Friday which argued “there is limited scientific research” supporting the idea that males have a “physical advantage” over females in competitive sports.

“Correction: An earlier tweet incorrectly stated there is limited scientific evidence of physical advantage. Existing research shows that higher levels of testosterone do impact athletic performance. But there’s limited research involving elite trans athletes in competition,” the outlet’s official Twitter account noted on Sunday afternoon.

Appended to the clarification was an annotated “Context” feature provided by Twitter citing a British Journal of Sports Medicine academic article that showed gender differences between female and male athletes, even after hormone-replacement therapy. The feature also included links to numerous studies which contradict the outlet’s claim that there is “limited research involving elite trans athletes in competition.”

While such medical interventions diminished performance differences in some categories, “transwomen still had a 9% faster mean run speed after the 1 year period of testosterone suppression,” the team of researchers concluded.

Elon Musk, the social-media platform’s owner, commented on the announcement thanking NPR “for correcting yourself.”