Copyright Men's Journal
The Winter Olympics are just a few months away, but there could be major changes coming for athletes ahead of the 2026 Milano Cortina Games. Sources close to the International Olympics Committee expect an upcoming widespread ban on transgender women throughout all-female categories. Major British newspaper The Times first reported the potential rules change on Monday, sharing that the announcement of the ban could come in the beginning of 2026. Currently, each individual sport has an internal committee that is allowed to create its own guidelines on how trans athletes are allowed to compete. Kirsty Coventry, who rose to the title of International Olympic Committee President in June, has made the issue of transgender women in sports one of her first matters of business. “I don’t think we need to redo all the work that’s been done,” she told The Athletic prior to her election victory, “we can learn from the international federations and set up a task force that will look at this constantly and consistently.” The IOC’s medical and scientific director, Dr. Jane Thornton, led the task force and recently delivered her findings to the rest of the committee. In her presentation, the Canadian former rower referenced a scientific study showing that people who are born male and go through puberty tend to have more of a physical advantage in sports compared to those who undergo female puberty. The study apparently also shows that athletes who attempt to lower their testosterone levels still maintain some sort of advantage. While athletes who were born male are likely to face a ban across women’s sports, guidance for female-born athletes with sex chromosome differences needs to develop further. The International Olympics Committee has yet to make any official changes to its policy, a fact it stressed in a statement to ESPN released on Monday. “The working group is continuing its discussions on this topic and no decisions have been taken yet,” a spokesperson said. “Further information will be provided in due course.” In 2021, the IOC released a Framework on Fairness, Inclusion and Non-Discrimination on the Basis of Gender Identity and Sex Variations. On the official Olympics site, it claims that “the Framework also recognizes that populations of trans people and people with sex variations are highly diverse, including with regard to their athletic abilities.” The Framework was designed to inform federations within each sport on their unique decisions in allowing transgender athletes to compete. New policies from the International Olympic Committee would be less guidance and more of an outright ban. The IOC is reportedly still figuring out the legality of the potential new rule change. Some sports like swimming and boxing have already placed a formal ban on transgender women competing. The decision is expected to be made public during the next IOC session in early February. If the rule is not in effect by 2026, if passed, it will certainly come into play for the 2028 Los Angeles Summer Olympics.
