I see this misconception a lot so I'd like to correct it. Hormone levels at a given moment have very little to do with physical performance in sports. Testosterone is important during childhood, puberty, and while training. Not at the point of competition. A large, athletic adult male, put on estrogen for a few years will still be incredibly, incomparably stronger than an elite woman. His bones are bigger, his muscles are bigger, his connective tissue is bigger, his leverages are better, he recruits more muscle fibers at max effort, his vertical leap is higher, his power production is higher. All of these things are innate physical characteristics of a body bathed in testosterone throughout childhood development, and they will not go away until he begins age related decline. The biological difference is insurmountable once puberty takes place.
This is why even elite female athletes, even with high testosterone, even when taking testosterone, even on steroids, even in the olympics, are physically competing on the level of high school boys. It is impossible to overstate the physical advantage that being a male provides. It is not about the current hormone levels.
I think few untrained men today, and even fewer women, truly understand the magnitude of natural strength difference between the sexes. They don't experience it in daily life. They think, oh, a man can just take estrogen and he'll be pretty much on the same level as the elite women. Let me put it in context:
- The US women's olympic soccer team lost a training match to an under 15 boys team, and it wasn't close
- The world record for 100m sprint by a woman is regularly beaten at state competitions by high school boys
- The world record for female deadlifting, 606lbs, set by a woman weighing over 200lbs, was beaten by a man weighing under 123 pounds (the lowest male weight class)
- This record of 606lbs is considered "pretty good" for a powerlifting male, nothing special at all
- It takes most fit, active women months of training to even be able to press a 20kg barbell above their head 5 times. A sedentary male can always do this.
- It takes years of serious training for a woman to bench press 60kg. Most men can do this innately, or within a couple of months of the same training.
- The world record for female standing vertical jump is 30 inches, which is below the average of a college football player (vertical standing jump is considered a proxy for power)
- A man can train to lift 100lbs over his head relatively easily. A woman will basically never be able to do this even after years of training. Any random gymgoer can grab a woman and lift her overhead like Rafiki lifting Simba. Most women cannot lift a 25lb box over their head.
I can go on. Why does this happen? Is it because the men currently have higher testosterone? No! It's because their tissues were bathed in testosterone in the womb, during childhood, during puberty, and into adulthood. It made their bones thicker and stronger. It made their muscles develop to contract more efficiently. It made their joints develop with more advantageous moment arms. It made their lung capacity greater. None of this has to do with muscle size, training, or muscular development! It also made their muscles bigger, but that's not the issue. None of this goes away when you reduce your adult testosterone levels.