New IOC President Signals Transgender Women To Be Banned From Female Olympic Events
The International Olympic Committee’s working group is reportedly considering “permanent physical advantages to being born male” while the fate of intersex athletes remains uncertain.
Featured Image: via Getty Images (photo, Christian Petersen)
Word is circulating that Kirsty Coventry, the new International Olympic Committee (IOC) president, plans to solidify her campaign to ban trans women from the female category in Olympic events. According to The Guardian, there is still internal resistance within the sports governing body to banning athletes with differences of sexual development (DSD); this would include those considered to have male chromosomes and male testosterone levels, but who were assigned female at birth.
GO recently reported on Caster Semenya, a world-class middle distance runner, who has been waging legal challenges against track and field sex eligibility rules over such differences in sexual development. Semenya has the typical male XY chromosome pattern and high levels of naturally occurring testosterone, but also female physical attributes. Currently barred from World Athletics, she is an example of the type of athlete whose fate – with regard to Olympic participation – remains uncertain.
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“My stance is that we will protect the female category and athletes,” Kirsty Coventry told The Guardian in March. “I want to work together with the international federations. And we’re going to do that by setting up a task force that will look and analyze everything.”
Speculation is mounting now amid reports that last week, IOC’s Director of Health, Medicine and Science, Dr. Jane Thornton, gave a “science-based review of the evidence” to its members, which spoke to “permanent physical advantages to being born male.”
There is also speculation that the IOC may do some bending to Trump on the matter, given his record of being hands-on with regard to the Games. In August, he issued an Executive Order to establish a new task force to “assist” with the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles (naming himself the Chair). Last month, disgruntled over non-related California matters, he threatened to move the Olympics from the city altogether; though not having the authority to do so, the message was that he could put on the pressure.
This past week, the U.S. Supreme Court also issued an order on passport policy and gender, aligning with Trump directives, which would likely make travel more difficult for trans and gender-nonconforming athletes.
The IOC has not yet issued a formal policy, and it’s possible they might not do so until the summer of 2026. Meanwhile, the organization has said in a statement: “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.”
