Olympic Committee announces broad ban of transgender athletes in women’s events.

By TARIQ PANJA

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) banned transgender athletes from competing in the women’s category at the Olympics, after telling its members to conduct mandatory genetic testing for women’s competitions.

The decision, the most consequential since Kirsty Coventry was elected last year as the first woman to serve as president of the IOC, followed a board meeting and months of speculation over the organization’s policy on one of the most contentious issues facing global sports. The rules will be applicable from the next Olympics, in Los Angeles in 2028.

As Coventry, a decorated Olympic swimmer from Zimbabwe, campaigned to lead the organization, she frequently said how important it was to protect the women’s category amid broader — and often bitter — debates about the participation of transgender athletes in sporting competitions.

Under the new policy, eligibility will be determined by a one-time gene test, according to the IOC. The test, which is already being used in track and field, requires screening via saliva, a cheek swab or a blood sample.

The IOC consulted a number of experts as it grappled with how to handle an issue that was becoming a growing concern for sports leaders. Late last year, Dr. Jane Thornton, the IOC’s medical and scientific director and a Canadian former Olympic rower, presented the initial findings of a review of athletes who are transgender or have differences of sexual development, known as DSD, and are competing in women’s sports. That analysis, which has not been made public, stated athletes born with male sexual markers retained physical advantages, including among those who had received treatment to reduce testosterone.

Until now, the IOC’s guidance had permitted transgender women to compete with reduced testosterone levels but left the final decision to individual sports federations. Track and field, swimming, boxing and rugby generally restrict transgender athletes from competing in the women’s category.

Women’s sports have been a critical front in a polarizing and public debate over transgender issues that was further inflamed last year when President Donald Trump signed an executive order prohibiting transgender athletes from competing in women’s college sports.

Track and field became the first major sport to introduce mandatory DNA sex testing for athletes entering women’s competitions last March. That came less than a year after the issue of eligibility erupted at the Paris Olympics in 2024, when the boxing competition was upended by ugly scenes inside and outside the ring over the participation of two women who went on to secure gold medals.