Olympics ban transgender athletes from all women's sports
Olympic chiefs have blocked transgender athletes from all women's sports after announcing mandatory sex testing under new rules.
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) says that a once-in-a-lifetime SRY gene test will help 'protect fairness, safety, and integrity in the female category'.
The move will also force those with a Disorder of Sex Development (DSD) to prove that they do not 'benefit from the anabolic and/or performance-enhancing effects of testosterone'.
The IOC's move comes after World Athletics made it compulsory for female athletes to take the test to compete in major championships or Diamond League events last year.
That decision followed high-profile controversies involving the boxers Imane Khelif and Lin Yu-ting at the Paris 2024 Olympics after claims that they had failed gender eligibility tests with the International Boxing Association (IBA).
Khelif, who won gold in the women's welterweight boxing category at the 2024 Paris Olympics, has consistently denied being transgender and taken treatment to lower testosterone levels.
The Algerian is also open to taking a sex test to compete, saying last month: 'Of course, I would accept doing anything I'm required to do to participate in competitions.
'They should protect women, but they need to pay attention that while protecting women, they shouldn't hurt other women.'
Tests: All athletes wishing to take part in women's events must take sex tests (pictured: Imane Khelif)
IOC president Kirsty Coventry said: 'As a former athlete, I passionately believe in the rights of all Olympians to take part in fair competition. The policy that we have announced is based on science and has been led by medical experts.
'At the Olympic Games, even the smallest margins can be the difference between victory and defeat.
'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.
'Every athlete must be treated with dignity and respect, and athletes will need to be screened only once in their lifetime.
'There must be clear education around the process and counselling available, alongside expert medical advice.'
A World Athletics spokesman said: 'We have led the way in protecting women’s sport over the last decade.
'Attracting and retaining more girls and women into sport requires a fair and level playing field where there is no biological glass ceiling.
'This means that gender cannot trump biology. A consistent approach across all sport has to be a good thing.'
The IOC's decision was welcomed by the likes of sports presenter Laura Woods, who commented under their post with clapping emojis, and former British Olympic swimmer Sharron Davies.
But Davies called for the policy to stretch further, writing on X: 'Olympics to announce transgender ban in all women’s sport. The female category to be returned to females at the Olympics. This must also happen at grassroots and recreational [levels]. Sex based protected cannot only be for the top one per cent.'
The IOC's new rules do not filter down to grassroots or recreational sports programmes, meaning young girls could still face transgender athletes in their respective disciplines.
Safety: Olympics chief Kirsty Coventry said the new rule would help ensure the safety of female stars
The SRY gene test is a one-off saliva, cheek swab, or blood test. It is seen by the IOC as unintrusive compared to other possible sex testing methods. The SRY gene, located on the Y chromosome, is found in men.
Lin, who won the women's featherweight boxing title in Paris, was recently cleared to return to World Boxing events after a sex test, casting doubt on the fairness of the controversy which engulfed her at the last Olympics.
Meanwhile, weightlifter Laurel Hubbard is an entirely different case; the 48-year-old is openly transgender and competed in the Tokyo Olympics in 2021.
The New Zealander transitioned in 2012 aged 35, and went on to win two World Championship silver medals in 2017 and competed at the 2018 Commonwealth Games in Australia.
Blocked: Transgender athletes are now blocked from taking part in women's sports at the Olympics (pictured: Laurel Hubbard in the Tokyo Games in 2021)
More than 80 human rights and sport advocacy groups recently called on the IOC to abandon their plans for mandatory sex testing, but their calls have been snubbed.
The sex tests cost around $250. It is not yet clear if athletes, who are often on a financial tightrope, will be required to pay for tests themselves.
Last year, former British middle-distance runner Lynsey Sharp said she would have won bronze at the 2016 Rio Olympics if gender testing rules had been in place then.
She finished sixth behind three athletes with DSD.
'Sometimes I look back and think I could have had an Olympic medal, but I gave it my all that day and that was the rules at the time,' she told Sky News. 'Obviously, I wish I was competing nowadays, but that was my time in the sport and that's how it was.'
Meanwhile, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt has claimed that Donald Trump deserves credit for the IOC's decision to ban trans athletes.
Re-posting an article on the subject from The Associated Press, the White House spokeswoman added a few words on the decision.
'You cannot change your sex,' she wrote. 'President Trump's Executive Order protecting women's sports made this happen!'
Credit: Karoline Leavitt says Donald Trump deserves credit for the IOC's decision to ban transgender athletes from women's sports
Order: Trump issued the 'Keeping Men Out of Women's Sports' executive order in February of 2025
In February 2025, Trump issued the 'Keeping Men Out of Women's Sports' EO, which banned trans athletes from women's amateur sports while also threatening the funding of any organization that failed to comply.
Furthermore, the EO required the Secretary of State to ensure the IOC would change its policy to 'promote fairness, safety, and the best interests of female athletes…'
At the time, The Hill reported a Trump administration official saying the order gave Secretary of State Marco Rubio the power to 'target visas issued to professional and elite transgender athletes'.
