Transgender athletes are to be banned from competing in female events in the Olympics, it was reported today. The Times reports that the International Olympic Committee (IOC) is “set to announce the ban” early next year following a science-based review of evidence about the “permanent physical advantages of being born male.”
Up until now the IOC’s guidance has been that transgender women can compete with reduced testosterone levels but leaves it up to individual sports to decide.
In a section on its website, it states: “Trans athletes are a highly diverse population, encompassing not only athletes of different body shapes and sizes but also very different transition journeys. Currently, trans athletes are also significantly under-represented in sport at all levels, particularly at the elite level. While existing studies suggest that between 0.1–1.1% of the world’s population is transgender, less than 0.001% of recent Olympians openly identify as trans and/or nonbinary.
“The IOC understands that in certain sports, particularly combat, contact and collision (CCC) sports, allowing athletes who have different body builds to compete against one another could increase the risk of injury. This is why CCC sports often use weight categories; it is also why they invest time and effort in understanding what protective gear can help mitigate such risks.”
The policy is set to change under its new president, Kirsty Coventry, a former professional swimmer – a seven-time Olympic medalist – and former Minister of Youth, Sport, Arts and Recreation of Zimbabwe. As part of her election campaign, Ms Coventry vowed to introduce a blanket ban on transgender women from female categories across all sports.
“We understand there will be differences depending on the sports. We should make the effort to place emphasis on the protection of the female category and we should ensure that this is done in consensus with all the stakeholders. But we need to do that with a scientific approach and the inclusion of the international federations who have already done a lot of work in this area,” she said in June.
Last week an update was presented by the organisation’s medical and scientific director, Dr Jane Thorton, to members at a meeting in Lausanne as it works through the details of the potential move, the BBC reports.
Regarding the initial findings of the science-based review, an IOC source told The Times:“It was a very scientific, factual and unemotional presentation which quite clearly laid out the evidence.” Another source claimed that there had been hugely positive feedback from IOC members about the presentation.
A growing number of sports federations have acted to ban biological men who have undergone puberty from competing in elite female competition amid growing concerns about fairness and safety.
In recent years a growing number of sports federations have barred athletes who have undergone male puberty from competing in elite female competition amid concerns over fairness and safety.
In 2020, World Rugby became the first international sports federation to say transgender women are not permitted to compete at elite international level in the female game.
World Boxing, the new international boxing federation, also introduced mandatory sex testing.
Other sports, including football, have yet to bring in a ban on biological males competing in female sports.