IOC bans transgender women athletes beginning with LA Games in 2028
Women athletes will have to undergo a one-time gene test in order to compete at Olympics, beginning with 2028 Summer Games in Los Angeles
Transgender women are banned from competing at the Olympics, beginning with the Los Angeles Summer Games in 2028. International Olympic Committee president Kirsty Coventry announced the change Thursday, March 26, reversing more than two decades' worth of inclusive policies. Since the IOC began allowing the participation of transgender athletes in 2004, only one openly transgender woman has competed at the Olympics, a weightlifter from New Zealand who did not make it past her opening round of competition at the Tokyo Games.
Women who want to compete at the Olympics will have to do a one-time genetic test. The IOC began examining the issue of transgender participation in September 2024 after several sport federations, including World Athletics and World Aquatics, took steps to limit or ban transgender athletes. A year later, Coventry announced the creation of a working group that looked at "scientific, medical and legal developments since 2021.
" "The scientific evidence is very clear," she said in a video released by the IOC. "Male chromosomes give performance advantages in sports that rely on strength, power or endurance. " That remains in dispute , however, and a 2024 study funded in part by the IOC directly contradicts that idea and cautioned against bans.
The IOC did not cite the science it used to develop the new policy. It also has refused to identify the members of the working group that created it, though several researchers whose findings have cast doubt on a competitive advantage for transgender women told USA TODAY Sports in September that they were not included. This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: IOC bans transgender athletes, reversing two decades of inclusion