French sprinter Halba Diouf raised concerns over the ban on transgender women in the female category by World Athletics (WA).
Diouf, a practicing Muslim, called out the decision taken by WA which has shattered her hopes to feature in the Olympics for the first time.
The transgender athlete has been training hard to improve her time in 200 metres to make her case solid for the Olympics at home.
WA stated that the reason behind banning transgender women was "to protect the female category."
"I cannot understand this decision as transgender women have always been allowed to compete if their testosterone levels were below a certain threshold," Diouf told Reuters in an interview.
"The only safeguard transgender women have is their right to live as they wish and we are being refused that, we are being hounded... I feel marginalised because they are excluding me from competitions," she said.
Born in Senegal, Diouf arrived in France at the age of four. As an adult, she moved to Aix-en-Provence where she started hormone therapy to change sex - and her gender transition was recognised by French authorities in 2021.
The tighter measures imposed by WA around one of the most contentious and divisive issues in sport - how to balance inclusivity while ensuring there is no unfair advantage - follow a similar move by World Aquatics in 2022.
LGBTQI advocacy groups say excluding trans athletes amounts to discrimination but WA President Sebastian Coe has said: "Decisions are always difficult when they involve conflicting needs and rights between different groups, but we continue to take the view that we must maintain fairness for female athletes above all other considerations."