Transgender women athletes banned from female Olympic events

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has decided to bar transgender women from taking part in female events.

This new rule affects who can compete in any female category event at the Olympic Games or any other competition overseen by the IOC, covering both individual and team sports.

The IOC has clarified that this change won't affect past events and doesn't apply to local or recreational sports programs. They issued a statement saying the policy is designed to "protect fairness, safety, and integrity within the female category."

Going forward, only biological females will be eligible for these events. The IOC will determine this based on a single test for the SRY gene. According to the IOC, this gene "is fixed throughout life and represents highly accurate evidence that an athlete has experienced male sex development."

This new stance from the IOC seems to align with a recent executive order from US President Donald Trump concerning women's sports. The 2028 Los Angeles Olympics will be the first Games where these new rules come into effect.

It's not clear how many, if any, transgender women are currently competing at an Olympic level. Importantly, no athlete who was born male and transitioned competed in the 2024 Paris Summer Games.

This change will also impact athletes like two-time Olympic champion runner Caster Semenya, who has a medical condition known as differences in sex development (DSD).

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IOC President Kirsty Coventry established a review of "protecting the female category" soon after becoming the first woman to lead the Olympic body in its 132-year history last June.

In a U-turn to previous policy, she wanted to bring in a universal rule for competitors in female elite sports after years of fragmented regulation that led to some ​major controversies.

In the statement, she said that even the smallest margins ‌"can be the difference between victory and defeat.

"So, it is absolutely clear that it would not be fair for biological males to compete in the female category. In addition, in some sports it would simply not be safe."

One of the key debates during last year's IOC election was about female eligibility. Coventry's main opponents actually stated they would enforce a stricter policy on this matter. 

Ahead of the Paris Games, governing bodies for track and field, swimming, and cycling had already put in place rules that bar transgender women who went through male puberty from competing. 

The IOC explained that being born male results in physical advantages that remain, referencing their own research to support this claim.

"Males experience three significant testosterone peaks: in utero, in mini-puberty of infancy, and beginning in adolescent puberty through adulthood," the document said.

It added that this gives males "individual sex-based performance advantages in sports and events that rely on strength, power, and/or endurance."