According to a report in a British newspaper, the International Olympic Committee is preparing to ban transgender women from competing in designated sports. times.
Currently, each international federation has its own rules regarding transgender eligibility, with some requiring athletes to undergo a period of hormone therapy before competing in the women’s category.
But IOC president Kirsty Coventry, who was elected earlier this year, called for consistent standards across all sports. After taking office in June, she created four working groups to address key issues facing the IOC, including one focused on protecting women’s sport.
The change will reportedly be officially announced next year and comes after the IOC conducted a science-based review of the physical benefits for people assigned male at birth.
times The IOC’s Director of Health, Medical and Scientific Affairs, Dr. Jane Thornton, briefed colleagues on the findings. Thornton, a former world rowing champion, said scientific evidence shows that those who go through male puberty retain a permanent physical advantage over women, which cannot be completely offset by hormone treatment.
The report also concluded that athletes with disorders of sexual development (DSD), a group of disorders in which a person develops characteristics of both sexes, have a measurable advantage over cisgender female athletes.
Former Olympic track and field athlete Caster Semenya is one of several athletes with DSD who recently withdrew her appeal to be banned from international competitions after refusing to take medication to reduce testosterone levels, despite a European Court of Human Rights ruling that she had been discriminated against.
This was announced by an IOC spokesperson. The Athletic Mr Thornton said he spoke to members last week, but the working group was still discussing the issue and no final decision had been made.
However, two senior IOC officials told the media anonymously that bans for transgender athletes and athletes with developmental disorders were almost certain to be imposed. Both said changes to eligibility rules were long overdue.
At the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, the participation of transgender and DSD athletes became a hot topic after two boxers, Imane Kherif (Algeria) and Lin Yuting (Taiwan) won gold medals despite being disqualified from the 2023 World Championships for failing a gender eligibility test.
Both boxers were raised as women and identify as women, but there is no evidence that either is transgender. However, they may have high testosterone levels associated with disorders of sexual differentiation, both of which are undiagnosed conditions. Questions about the eligibility of transgender athletes and their advantages over other competitors have led to renewed calls for a complete ban on transgender athletes from women’s competitions.
It remains unclear whether the ban will come into effect in time for the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo. times The IOC has reported that it may announce its policy at its 145th General Assembly, to be held in Milan, a few days before the start of the Games.
However, the ban is expected to be fully enforced by the time Los Angeles hosts the Summer Olympics in 2028. Earlier this year, President Donald Trump signed an executive order banning transgender women from women’s sports and threatening to withhold federal funding from schools, universities and states that don’t comply.
As part of this order, President Trump directed the State Department to review the visas of foreign athletes entering the United States to ensure they were not assigned male at birth. The ministry later announced that it would impose a permanent visa ban on transgender individuals, not just athletes, whose gender designation on their applications does not match the gender they were assigned at birth.
To date, New Zealand weightlifter Laurel Hubbard is the only openly transgender woman to compete in the Olympics. She qualified for the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, but was unable to successfully complete her lifting.
Source: Metro Weekly – www.metroweekly.com
