The International Olympic Committee will restrict women’s events to biological females from 2028, ending transgender inclusion and affecting DSD athletes.
LAUSANNE: The International Olympic Committee announced a major policy shift on Thursday, limiting eligibility for all women’s category events to “biological females” from the 2028 Los Angeles Games onwards. This decision effectively bars transgender women and many athletes with differences in sexual development from competing in women’s Olympic sports.
The IOC is reintroducing gender verification testing, which will be conducted via a one-time SRY gene screening using saliva, a cheek swab, or a blood sample. This move abandons the 2021 framework that allowed individual sports federations to set their own rules.
IOC president Kirsty Coventry stated the policy is grounded in science and led by medical experts. “At the Olympic Games even the smallest margins can be the difference between victory and defeat,” Coventry said.
“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.” She added that the policy supports “equality and fairness and the protection of the safety on the field of play.”
The new policy removes a potential clash with US President Donald Trump, who issued an executive order banning transgender athletes from women’s sport. Trump later claimed credit for the IOC’s decision in a post on his Truth Social network.
World Athletics welcomed the consistent approach across all sports. “Attracting and retaining more girls and women into sport requires a fair and level playing field where there is no biological glass ceiling,” a spokesperson said.
The reintroduction of testing, last used at the 1996 Atlanta Games, is expected to face opposition, particularly regarding DSD athletes. The British Journal of Sports Medicine recently stated there is “no scientific data of acceptable quality regarding sport performance advantage of people with DSDs possessing an SRY gene.”
The policy follows controversy in the women’s boxing competition at the 2024 Paris Olympics involving Algerian fighter Imane Khelif and Lin Yu-ting of Taiwan. Both athletes, excluded from a 2023 world championships over eligibility, were permitted by the IOC to compete in Paris and won gold medals.
