LAUSANNE, Switzerland — The International Olympic Committee announced Thursday a comprehensive new eligibility framework that will prevent transgender women from participating in female Olympic events, with the rules taking effect for the 2028 Los Angeles Games.
The policy change coincides with President Donald Trump’s recent executive directive regarding women’s athletic competitions.
“Eligibility for any female category event at the Olympic Games or any other IOC event, including individual and team sports, is now limited to biological females,” the International Olympic Committee stated, “determined on the basis of a one‑time SRY gene screening.”
The number of transgender women currently competing at Olympic levels remains uncertain. The 2024 Paris Summer Olympics did not feature any athletes who had transitioned from male to female.
According to the IOC, the new eligibility requirements that begin with the LA Olympics in July 2028 will “protects fairness, safety and integrity in the female category.”
The organization emphasized that “It is not retroactive and does not apply to any grassroots or recreational sports programs.” This statement comes despite the Olympic Charter’s declaration that sporting participation represents a fundamental human right.
Following their executive board session, the International Olympic Committee released a comprehensive 10-page policy framework that also affects female competitors like two-time Olympic champion runner Caster Semenya, who has medical conditions classified as differences in sex development, or DSD.
IOC President Kirsty Coventry and the committee had sought definitive guidelines rather than continuing to provide recommendations to individual sports governing bodies, who had previously created their own regulations.
Establishing a review of “protecting the female category” became one of Coventry’s initial major initiatives last June after becoming the first woman to head the Olympic organization in its 132-year existence.
The issue of female eligibility emerged as a prominent topic during last year’s seven-candidate IOC presidential election, with Coventry’s primary opponents promising more decisive action on the matter.
Prior to the 2024 Paris Olympics, three major sports disciplines — track and field, swimming and cycling — had already implemented regulations excluding transgender women who experienced male puberty.
The IOC’s documentation outlines research findings indicating that being born male provides lasting physical benefits.
“Males experience three significant testosterone peaks: in utero, in mini-puberty of infancy and beginning in adolescent puberty through adulthood,” the document stated.
The policy further notes this creates “individual sex-based performance advantages in sports and events that rely on strength, power and/or endurance.”
