President of the International Olympic Committee Kirsty Coventry during the closing ceremony of the 2026 Milan Cortina Winter Olympics.STEFANO RELLANDINI/AFP/Getty Images
In a landmark decision, the International Olympic Committee has announced a new eligibility policy that will exclude transgender female athletes from competing in women’s events at the Olympics.
The IOC said Thursday that the policy, which will be applied starting at the 2028 Los Angeles Summer Games, “protects fairness, safety and integrity in the female category.”
The IOC policy for the world’s biggest multisport spectacle focuses on an issue that has long been a subject of heated debate among politicians, athletes, sport governing bodies and advocacy groups. The controversy largely pits the idea of equitable access to sport against the contention that the participation of transgender athletes disadvantages their non-transgender teammates and competitors.
The IOC decision aligns with an executive order by U.S. President Donald Trump a year ago that sought to prohibit transgender athletes from competing in girls’ and women’s school, college and pro events in the United States. In that order, Mr. Trump pushed for the IOC to institute a transgender ban in women’s sporting events. The White House welcomed the IOC’s decision Thursday, describing it as a result of the executive order.
IOC president Kirsty Coventry disagreed: “This was a priority for me way before President Trump came into his second term,” she said in a news conference. “There’s not been any pressure [on] us to deliver anything from anybody outside of the Olympic Movement.”
Reuters
The IOC and Ms. Coventry made clear that the new 10-page policy is not retroactive and does not apply to grassroots or recreational sports. The organization said it is based on science and has been led by medical experts with the best interests of athletes at heart.
The IOC said a working group reviewed the latest scientific evidence, including developments over the past years, and reached a consensus: Male sex provides a performance advantage in all sports and events that rely on strength, power and endurance.
The new policy states that eligibility for the female category will be determined by a one-time gene test, according to the IOC. The test, which has been used since last summer by World Athletics, the governing body for track and field, requires screening via a cheek swab or a blood sample.
“On the basis of the scientific evidence, the IOC considers that the SRY gene is fixed throughout life and represents highly accurate evidence that an athlete has experienced or will experience male sex development,” reads the policy. The SRY gene is a reliable indicator for determining biological sex.
“Furthermore, the IOC considers that SRY gene screening via saliva, cheek swab or blood sample is unintrusive compared to other possible methods.”
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Under the IOC policy, transgender women and DSD (differences in sex development) athletes who were reported as female at birth but have internal testes and have undergone male puberty may not compete in the female category at future Olympics.
The Canadian Olympic Committee reacted to the announcement in a statement to The Globe and Mail: “We recognize the International Olympic Committee for providing clarity and appreciate their commitment to grounding the policy in scientific rigour, empathy and respect for athletes.”
“This is one of the most complicated issues the Olympic movement is facing as it pits two important Olympic values against one another: fairness and inclusion.”
The COC said using the IOC’s direction, it will work with its domestic and international partners, through its Chief Medical Officer, to apply the policy for the LA Olympics and beyond.
“We believe deeply in the value of sport participation and inclusion and have noted this policy applies only to elite sport at Olympic events,” the statement said. “We will continue to work closely with athletes and our National Sport Organizations as we carefully review this decision and move forward.”
You Can Play, a non-profit organization that advocates for LGBTQ+ inclusion and belonging in sport, called the IOC’s decision “flawed” and “deeply disappointing.”
“While this policy applies only to elite international competition, it is important to be clear about what it does not change. This ruling does not apply to community, youth, or grassroots sport – where the vast majority of athletes participate,” said You Can Play executive director Kurt Weaver in a statement.
“Sport is strongest when it includes everyone. We will continue working with teams, leagues and organizations to create environments where trans athletes can show up as their full selves and belong.”
This new policy marks a change in direction for the IOC, which in 2021, at the Tokyo Summer Games, lauded the appearance of Laurel Hubbard, the first transgender weightlifter at an Olympics. She did not make it past her opening round of competition.
That same year, the IOC also published a document called “Framework on fairness, inclusion and non-discrimination on the basis of gender identity and sex variations.”
That framework was written to guide international federations to make their own sport-specific eligibility criteria for the female category.
The IOC explained that from September of 2024 to March of 2026, it reviewed that framework and got feedback from sporting federations and athletes. It formed a working group of international specialists in fields like sports science, endocrinology, transgender medicine, sports medicine, women’s health, ethics and law, plus chief medical officers from various sports.
After an update from the working group in November, 2025, the IOC began drafting a policy on what it called the protection of the female category in an Olympic context, reflecting the working group’s input and IOC consideration of recent developments, including in international human-rights law.
This issue has been among the top priorities for Ms. Coventry, a former Olympic champion swimmer from Zimbabwe, since she became the first female president in IOC history a year ago.
“As a former athlete, I passionately believe in the rights of all Olympians to take part in fair competition,” said Ms. Coventry in a statement.
“At the Olympic Games, 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.”
With a report from the Associated Press