The International Olympic Committee (IOC) is reportedly preparing to ban all transgender women athletes from participating in the women’s category of Olympic competition.
The decision is grounded in “unambiguous scientific evidence” that individuals born male retain significant physical advantages, even after hormonal transition.
According to The Times, the IOC is on the brink of finalizing eligibility rules that would effectively bar transgender women, and those with differences in sexual development (DSD) who started after male-puberty, from competing in the female category beginning with the 2026 Winter Games in Milan-Cortina.
This marks a dramatic reversal from policies over the past decade which permitted transgender women to compete if they met specific testosterone thresholds and other criteria.
Now, under the leadership of IOC President Kirsty Coventry (a former Olympic swimmer from Zimbabwe), the organization appears ready to shift gears sharply.
The Daily Mail reported:
While Olympic sources have confirmed that such a measure is very much the ‘direction of travel’, it is highly unlikely to come into force before the Winter Olympics in Italy next February.
One report suggested that a rule change could be announced in February, but insiders estimated it might take between six months and a year for it to be approved and cleared.
The move would be seen as a box ticked by Coventry, who campaigned to protect the female category on her way to winning the presidential election earlier this year.
It would also avoid any awkward flashpoints with Donald Trump in the build-up to the LA Olympics – in February, the US President signed an executive order to prevent transgender women from competing in female sport.
Such has been the focus on this area that a presentation was delivered by IOC medical, health, and science director Dr Jane Thornton to members in Lausanne last week, which included a science-based review around trans and DSD issues. The IOC denied that any decision has been made on either front and it is understood there has not yet been a presentation to the executive board, which next convenes in December.
An IOC statement to Daily Mail Sport read: ‘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. The working group is continuing its discussions on this topic and no decisions have been taken yet.’
Last July, the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee banned transgender biological males from competing in women’s events to comply with the executive order issued by President Donald Trump.
The committee announced the change on Monday after informing the national sport governing bodies that it has an “obligation to comply” with Trump’s February “Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports” Executive Order 14201, which requires federal agencies and organizations receiving federal funding to enforce sex-based distinctions in sports.
The new “Athlete Safety Policy” references the order directly, without naming it.
“The USOPC will continue to collaborate with various stakeholders with oversight responsibilities, e.g., IOC, IPC, NGBs, to ensure that women have a fair and safe competition environment consistent with Executive Order 14201 and the Ted Stevens Olympic & Amateur Sports Act,” the document says.
Under the new rules, athletes must compete in the category corresponding to their biological sex at birth.
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