Only biological female athletes, whose gender has been determined by a one-time gene-screening test, will now be eligible to take part in female category events at the Olympic Games, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) said on Thursday.
The IOC unveiled its new policy, following an 18-month consultation phase, on the protection of the female category as part of its initiative to have a universal rule for competitors in female elite sports after years of fragmented regulation that led to major controversies.
The new rules essentially stop transgender athletes from competing in female category events at the Olympics. They had previously been eligible to compete at the Olympics once cleared by their respective federations.
All athletes wanting to qualify or take part in female category events from the LA2028 Olympics onwards will have to undergo an SRY gene test to determine their eligibility.
“Based on scientific evidence, the IOC considers that the presence of the SRY gene is fixed throughout life and represents highly accurate evidence that an athlete has experienced male sex development,” the IOC said in a statement.
The IOC had long declined to apply any universal rule on transgender participation in the Olympics and in 2021 instructed international federations to come up with their own guidelines.
New IOC President Kirsty Coventry did a U-turn immediately after taking over in June last year, saying her organisation would take the lead for a uniform approach.
“At the Olympic Games, even the smallest margins can be the difference between victory and defeat,” Coventry said in the statement.
“So, it is absolutely clear that it would not be fair for biological males to compete in the female category. In addition, in some sports it would simply not be safe.”
The new rules have no retroactive power and no impact on grassroots or amateur sports.
Rare exceptions
There are exceptions, the IOC said, for rare cases of sex development.
“With the rare exception of athletes with a diagnosis of Complete Androgen Insensitivity Syndrome (CAIS) or other rare differences/disorders in sex development (DSDs) who do not benefit from the anabolic and/or performance-enhancing effects of testosterone, no athlete with an SRY-positive screen is eligible for competition in the female category at an IOC event,” the IOC said.
The Paris 2024 Olympics were hit by a major gender row involving two boxers competing in the female categories, who both won gold in their weight classes.
A year earlier, they had been banned from the world championships by their international federation over a gender eligibility test.
Federation rules
Some federations, including athletics, swimming and rugby union, had already drawn up their own rules, barring athletes who have gone through male puberty from competing in the women’s class. Many smaller federations, however, had yet to finalise their own regulations on the matter.
World Athletics is among sporting organisations which have already adopted gender testing, introducing a one-off SRY gene test obtained by a cheek swab for all female athletes ahead of last year’s World Championships in Tokyo.
Even before the IOC policy announcement, however, human rights and sports advocacy groups voiced their opposition to any gender testing.
Only a handful of openly transgender athletes have taken part in the Games. Laurel Habbard became the first to compete in a different gender category to that assigned at birth when the weightlifter took part in the Tokyo Olympics in 2021.
US President Donald Trump last year banned transgender athletes from competing in school, college and pro events in the female category in the United States, as Los Angeles prepares to host the 2028 Summer Olympics.
Trump, who signed the “Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports” order in February 2025, has said he would not allow transgender athletes to compete at the LA Games.
