"The UFC was appalled by the transphobic comments made by heavyweight Matt Mitrione," stated the mixed martial arts governing body, which recently suspended Mitrione after he called male-to-female transsexual fighter Fallon Fox "a lying, sick, sociopathic disgusting freak" in an online broadcast.

Fox had sex reassignment surgery (SRS) in 2006, before beginning her professional MMA career in 2012. She won her second women's featherweight fight last month and subsequently came out as transsexual. In historical context, the ensuing furore was utterly predictable, even though the decision to allow Fox to compete was based upon the International Olympic Committee's guidelines for transsexual athletes, ratified in 2004 and revised after the gender test row around Caster Semanya.

Back in Victorian Britain the sporting spheres for men and women became distinct. When women's football became popular just after the first world war, the FA declared that its sport was "quite unsuitable for women" and banned them from forming teams, a rule that remained in place for 50 years. At the 1900 Olympics, women were allowed to compete in lawn tennis and golf, with only a few entering the co-ed sailing and croquet.

The fear that men would try to join female-only competitions grew with the introduction of women's track and field events in 1928 – just as the first sex reassignment operations were pioneered in Germany – and rested upon the assumption that men were inherently physically superior. The first transsexual person to play in competitive sport after transitioning was Renée Richards. Richards was barred from the 1976 US Open by the United States Tennis Association, which cited an unprecedented women-born-women policy. She challenged the ban in the New York supreme court a year later and won, entering the 1977 Open – before losing in straight sets in the first round, suggesting that worries that transsexual women would always hold an unassailable advantage over their competitors were misplaced.

It was not until May 2004, however, that the IOC introduced a policy for transsexual and transgender athletes, stating that they must have legal recognition in their country, hormone therapy to "minimise gender-related advantages" and proof of at least two years of living in their "newly assigned gender" after SRS. The IOC policies were adopted in many other sports, allowing golfer Mianne Bagger to compete in tournaments worldwide, and Martine Delaney to play in Soccer Tasmania women's division.

Non-surgical trans people, meanwhile, have tended to compete as the sex assigned at birth, as the IOC made no provision for them. After coming out, trans man Kye Allums stayed with George Washington University's women's college basketball team, delaying his hormone therapy to avoid controversy. In November 2011, Jaiyah Saelua became the first openly transgender international footballer. Part of the fa'afafine, a group of male-born people who identify as a more feminine third sex, she helped American Samoa's men's team to their first ever competitive victory, in a World Cup pre-qualifying match.

As more trans people battle to compete in their chosen fields, more clarification will be needed. Pride Sports recently hosted a panel discussion at Wembley Stadium attended by FA and UK Athletics representatives, to consider the position of trans players and spectators in competitive and non-competitive activities.

In addition, the Sports Council Equality Group commissioned a consultant to explore robust alternatives to the IOC rules, arguing that it was hormones rather than SRS that equalised physical disparities, and that transsexual people should be allowed to compete in their chosen gender just one year after surgery – a point adopted by Badminton England. It is trying to produce separate guidelines for male-to-female and female-to-male people, as trans men do not hold an unfair advantage at any point – something that the IOC has failed to acknowledge.

Over time, a combination of principles and precedents will clarify the place of trans people in single-sex sports. Challenging the underlying prejudices that might discourage them from participating, such as the virulent hostility experienced by Fox, will almost certainly take longer.

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