Olympics prepare to ban transgender athletes from women’s events

Following a review commissioned earlier in the year, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) are likely to ban transgender athletes from competing in all women’s events.

The update from the committee’s medical and scientific direction, Dr Jane Thornton, stated that there was clear scientific evidence of physical advantages from being born male. These advantages still persist even after reducing testosterone levels.

Currently the IOC’s policy is for individual sports to decide their own rules regarding transgender athletes. Athletics and swimming currently ban transgender competitors, while football allow them as long as their testosterone levels have been reduced.

Kirsty Coventry, president of the IOC, said: “Protecting the female category and female sports is paramount – it’s a priority that we collectively come together.”

“There is more and more scientific research. We are not having a conversation about how it is detrimental to men’s sport. That, in itself, says we need to protect women’s sport. It is very clear that transgender women are more able in the female category, and can take away opportunities that should be equal for women.”

Caitlyn Jenner, who is transgender and who won a gold medal in the 1976 Olympics as Bruce Jenner, has supported the potential ban.

Speaking to Fox News in the U.S., Jenner said, “I am a trans woman, but I am still biologically male… There’s nothing I can do to change that. Males do have a better advantage, a big advantage in sports over women. It’s just not fair.”

The IOC are likely to announce their new policy early in the new year, with the ban expected to come into force before the Los Angeles Summer Olympics in 2028

“An update was given by the IOC medical and scientific director to the IOC members last week at the commission meetings,” said a spokesperson for the IOC. “The working group is continuing its discussions on this topic and no decisions have been taken yet.”