The Olympics Has Officially Banned Trans Women From Competing In Women’s Events
The IOC announced a new policy that allows only biological women to compete in women’s events at the Olympics and any other IOC event.
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has banned trans women from competing in women’s events at the Olympics, requiring women athletes to undergo a genetic test to prove their biological sex.
Since 2021, the IOC introduced new rules that allowed individual sports federations to decide eligibility for the women’s category for their sports, choosing not to apply a universal approach as different sports have different physical demands.
Under this, sports like athletics, swimming and cycling banned trans women from competing in women’s competitions.
Others allowed trans women to compete in the women’s category if they lowered their testosterone levels, normally through medication.
On Thursday, March 26, The IOC announced a new policy that allows only biological women to compete in women’s events at the Olympics and any other IOC event, starting from the Los Angeles Olympics in 2028.
Under the guidelines, women athletes will be required to undergo a one-time SRY gene (Sex-determining Region Y) screening to prove they do not have the gene found on the Y chromosome that typically triggers the development of male biology.
Athletes who test positive will not be allowed to compete in women’s events.
IOC president Kirsty Coventry said the decision will ensure fairness in competition, saying athletes born male have an advantage in sports that rely on “strength, power and endurance.”
Sports federations can opt out of testing if they can demonstrate their sports does not rely on “strength, power and/or endurance”, the women’s category exists for reasons unrelated to sex differences and excluding biological sex would not put biological women athletes at a disadvantage.
The policy could also affect women athletes who were born women but have a rare condition called differences in sex development (DSD), which can cause naturally higher testosterone levels.
The only trans woman to compete at an Olympics was New Zealand weightlifter Laurel Hubbard, who took part at Tokyo 2021 after transitioning.
90 organizations had called on the IOC not to implement the policy, saying it is "a catastrophic erosion of women's rights and safety."
Wendy Chuang
Joanna Lee
Kassy Cho
