Martina Navratilova Shows Support For World Athletics' Decision To Ban Transgender Women From Competing Against Biological Females

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World Athletics - the international governing body for track and field - officially banned transgender athletes from competing in all women’s events. The announcement came last week, and tennis legend Martina Navratilova believes that this is a "step in the right direction."

READ: FEMALE CYCLING CHAMPION RETIRES FROM THE SPORT AFTER HAVING TO RACE AGAINST TRANSGENDER WOMEN

The 18-time Grand Slam winner wrote an interesting op-ed in The Times of the UK not only showing support for the decision but also proposing a separate category for all transgender athletes.

"In the wake of World Athletics’ announcement, I think the best idea would be to have ‘biological female’ and ‘biological girls’ categories and then an ‘open’ category," she wrote. "It would be a category for all-comers: men who identify as men; women who identify as women; women who identify as men; men who identify as women; non-binary — it would be a catch-all.

"Biological females are most likely to compete in the biological female category, as that’s their best shot at winning and it maintains the principle of fairness. With an ‘open’ category there are no question marks, no provisos, no asterisks, no doubts. It’s a simple solution."

Martina Navratilova believes transgender athletes should have their own competitive categories. (Photo by Sarah Stier/Getty Images)

Prior to the decision to ban transgender women competing against biological females, transgender competitors had to have had a blood testosterone level below 5 nanomoles per liter for at least 12 months.

Currently, there are no trans athletes competing internationally in the sport, but the new regulations ensure that women’s events will be protected now and into the future.

The ban is set to go into effect on March 31.

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Mark covers all sports at OutKick while keeping a close eye on the world of professional golf. He graduated from the University of Tennessee-Chattanooga before earning his master's degree in journalism from the University of Tennessee. He somehow survived living in Knoxville despite ‘Rocky Top’ being his least favorite song ever written. Before joining OutKick, he wrote for various outlets including SB Nation, The Spun, and BroBible. Mark was also a writer for the Chicago Cubs Double-A affiliate in 2016 when the team won the World Series. He's still waiting for his championship ring to arrive. Follow him on Twitter @itismarkharris.