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The International Olympic Committee (IOC) is poised to bar transgender women from competing in female events at the Olympics under a new eligibility policy, The Times has reported, citing sources. The move would mark a major shift from the IOC’s current approach of allowing transgender participation with reduced testosterone levels while leaving the criteria to individual sporting federations. The reported change has been linked to new IOC President Kirsty Coventry, who was elected in March and is the first woman to head the body. She has pledged to “protect the female category.” According to the report on Monday, the IOC is likely to announce the policy change early next year, possibly around its session at the Winter Olympics in February. The revision is reportedly based on a scientific review of transgender athletes that found physical advantages linked to being born male can persist even after testosterone levels are medically reduced. The findings were presented to IOC members last week by the body’s medical and scientific director, Jane Thornton, and were received “hugely positively,” one source said. The participation of transgender athletes in female sports remains a contentious issue. Cases such as US swimmer Lia Thomas and New Zealand weightlifter Laurel Hubbard sparked debate about whether such competitors have an unfair advantage over biological females. In 2021, the IOC declared there should be “no presumption of advantage” for transgender women and, a year later, handed responsibility to individual federations, telling them to devise their own criteria. Some bodies have since tightened their rules. The 2024 Olympics in Paris reignited the controversy, drawing criticism over scandals and an opening ceremony that featured homosexuals, transsexuals, and drag queens simulating a Bacchanalia patterned after Leonardo da Vinci’s famous mural ‘The Last Supper.’ In women’s boxing, Algerian fighter Imane Khelif, who had previously been ruled ineligible for the World Championships over her gender, won gold after defeating Italy’s Angela Carini. The Italian forfeited the fight after just 45 seconds, declaring “this is unjust!” and said she had been hit harder than ever before and feared that her nose was broken. Former IOC President Thomas Bach insisted at the time that there was “no scientifically solid system” to distinguish between men and women in sports.
