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IOC bans trans women from elite female competitions in historic policy shift

A landmark IOC decision redefines fairness in women's sports—but at what cost? The ban on trans athletes sparks global debate over inclusion and competition.

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The image shows a black and white photo of a woman running on a track in front of a crowd of...
The image shows a black and white photo of a woman running on a track in front of a crowd of people, with buildings and poles in the background. At the bottom of the image, there is text which reads "Women's 100m Final at the 1956 Olympic Games".

IOC bans trans women from elite female competitions in historic policy shift

After heated gender debates in sport, the IOC decides on new guidelines: Female athletes must be tested once before competitions. The rules for trans women will be tightened.

The International Olympic Committee wants all female athletes to undergo gender tests in future in order to be allowed to take part in international women's competitions. Trans women will be banned from competing in the women's category in future, the IOC announced. The new guideline is the result of a working group set up by IOC President Kirsty Coventry to "protect the women's category".

The Olympic umbrella organization's tightened policy was triggered by the controversy surrounding women's boxing competitions at the Summer Games in Paris 2024. Olympic champions Imane Khelif and Lin Yu-ting were at the center of the gender debate. Both had previously been excluded from the World Championships by the International Boxing Association (Iba) as they had allegedly failed to meet the participation criteria based on an unexplained gender test.

Both were allowed to compete at the Olympics. The then IOC President Thomas Bach said, referring to the rules in force at the time: "There was never any doubt that they were women." Khelif also recently emphasized: "I am not a transsexual, I am a girl." Trans people or transgender people are people who do not identify with the gender they were assigned at birth.

Test only needs to be done once

Khelif had already announced before the IOC's new regulations that he would undergo a gender test before the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles. According to the new IOC guidelines, female athletes only have to undergo the test once, provided there are no doubts about the result. After that, they are permitted to compete on a permanent basis.

Most recently in Italy, Swedish mogul skier Elis Lundholm was the first openly trans athlete to compete at the Winter Games - in the women's competition. He was assigned the female gender at birth. However, he has identified as a man for many years. However, he had not had his gender legally changed, nor had he undergone any medical measures for gender reassignment treatment. He was therefore nominated by the Swedish federation for the women's team and the IOC allowed him to take part.

Caster Semenya's case caused a stir

The case of Caster Semenya has recently caused quite a stir in athletics. The three-time world champion refused to undergo hormone treatment to lower her natural testosterone levels before competing. She repeatedly emphasized that she was a woman. According to her autobiography, she has no uterus and no fallopian tubes.

In response to the debates, only athletes who undergo a so-called SRY genetic test to determine their biological sex and show the result "female" were allowed to compete in the women's category at the World Boxing Championships in Liverpool and the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo last year. In this test, the female athletes are examined for a gene on the Y chromosome, which is crucial for the development of male sexual characteristics.

A cheek swab or a blood sample is sufficient. However, this is preceded by a lengthy consultation. Opinions differ among female athletes about the procedure, with many German female athletes expressing criticism. A large group of human rights organizations had already called on the IOC in advance with harsh words not to enforce the rule.

The critics point out that the tests would violate privacy. They also argue that focusing solely on biological characteristics does not do justice to the complexity of gender identity. "Gender-specific controls and exclusion harm all women and girls and undermine the very dignity and fairness that the IOC claims to stand for," said Andrea Flores, Director of the Sport & Rights Alliance.

Trump puts pressure on the IOC

There have been gender tests in the Olympic world before. For example, the IOC introduced swab tests to determine sex chromosomes before the 1968 Olympic Games. After problems and resistance, the IOC discontinued general testing in 1999.

Coventry, the first woman to head the IOC, had already announced in her election campaign that she would make the protection of the women's category a key issue. Additional pressure came from US President Donald Trump, who had promised to "keep men out of women's sport" in the midst of the debate surrounding Khelif. At the beginning of the previous year, Trump had signed a decree banning trans people from participating in women's sport. The Republican will officially host the 2028 Summer Games in Los Angeles.

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