The International Olympic Committee says it is still weighing universal rules for transgender athletes at the Games, as a growing number of sports bodies move to tighten eligibility criteria in a shift in sentiment that the IOC appears increasingly willing to get on board with.
The IOC, under new president Kirsty Coventry, did a U-turn in June, deciding to take the lead in setting eligibility criteria for Olympic participation of transgender athletes, having previously handed responsibility to the individual sports federations leading to a confusing patchwork of different approaches.
In September, Coventry set up the ‘Protection of the Female Category’ working group, made up of experts as well as representatives of international federations, to look into how best to protect the female category in sports.
“An update was given by the IOC’s Director of Health, Medicine and Science to the IOC members last week during the IOC commission meetings,” an IOC spokesperson said yesterday.
“The working group is continuing its discussions on this topic and no decisions have been taken yet. Further information will be provided in due course.”
Before Coventry’s decision in June, the IOC had long refused to apply any universal rule on transgender participation for the Games, instructing international federations in 2021 to come up with their own guidelines. Under current rules, still in force, transgender athletes are eligible to take part in the Olympics.
Only a handful of openly transgender athletes have taken part in the Games. New Zealand’s Laurel Hubbard became the first openly transgender athlete to compete in a different gender category to that assigned at birth when the weightlifter took part in the Tokyo Olympics in 2021.
Some international federations have rules in place, but others have not yet reached that stage. U.S. President Donald Trump has banned transgender athletes from competing in sports in schools in the United States, which civil society groups say infringes on the rights of trans people.
Trump, who signed the “Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports” order in February, has said he would not allow transgender athletes to compete at the 2028 Los Angeles Summer Olympics.
Following Trump’s decision, the United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee also changed its rules accordingly, banning transgender athletes from taking part in women’s sports.
Several federations have launched their own studies or changed rules to ban anyone who has gone through male puberty from competing in the female category at an elite level.
World Rugby has banned transgender athletes from competing at elite level, while World Athletics does not allow transgender athletes who have undergone male puberty from competing.
World Aquatics allows transgender athletes who have transitioned before the age of 12 to compete, but not those who have done so after that age.
The situation remains somewhat murky in soccer, the world’s most popular sport, with FIFA yet to announce an updated policy as some individual associations, including the English FA, have unilaterally banned transgender players from competing in women’s competitions.
Boxing and athletics have also this year introduced mandatory tests for athletes in the female category to detect the SRY gene, which is on the Y chromosome and triggers the development of male characteristics in mammals.
These moves are aimed at athletes with Differences of Sexual Development (DSD), who have been raised as female but sometimes carry some of the physical advantages of males.
