The International Olympic Committee on Thursday adopted new qualification rules that bar transgender athletes from competing in women’s categories at the Olympic Games from Los Angeles 2028.
The 10-page policy document, published after an executive board meeting, also imposes restrictions on athletes with differences in sex development, or DSD, including South Africa’s two-time Olympic champion Caster Semenya.
The IOC said the policy would apply from the Los Angeles Olympics in July 2028 and would not be retroactive. It said the rules “protect fairness, safety and integrity in the women’s category”.
“Eligibility for any female category competition at the Olympic Games or other IOC competitions, including in individual and team sports, is now restricted to biological females, which will be determined on the basis of a one-time SRY genetic test”, the IOC said in a press release cited the Polish Press Agency (PAP).
“Based on scientific evidence, the IOC considers the presence of the SRY gene to be established for life and to constitute highly reliable evidence that male sex developed in the athlete,” the press release added.
It was unclear how many, if any, transgender women compete at Olympic level, and that no athlete born male competed at the Paris 2024 Olympics.
Ahead of Paris, athletics, swimming and cycling had already introduced rules excluding transgender women who had undergone male puberty from women’s competition, PAP reported.
The IOC document said being born male confers physical advantages that remain even after gender transition.
“Men experience three significant testosterone surges: in the womb, in infancy, and from puberty to adulthood. This gives men an individual, sex-dependent advantage in sports and events requiring strength, power and/or endurance”, the statement said.
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Source: PAP