Transgender athletes banned from competing in women’s category starting at 2028 Olympics, International Olympic Committee announces

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) announced Thursday a policy that bans transgender athletes from competing in the women’s category in the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics and beyond.

The IOC put out a video and a press release outlining the new policy, which limits the women’s category “to biological females.”

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IOC president and former Olympian Kirsty Coventry appeared in the committee’s video, saying the IOC’s new policy was “based on science” and had “the best interest of athletes at its heart.”

Under the new policy, athletes who compete in the women’s category will be subject to a screening that aims to detect the sex-determining region Y protein (SRY) gene. That particular gene “is found on the Y chromosome and is a key determinator of male-typical sex development,” per The Athletic.

The IOC claimed Thursday that “the presence of the SRY gene is fixed throughout life and represents highly accurate evidence that an athlete has experienced male development.”

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Athletes will be screened via saliva, cheek swab or blood sample, per the IOC. Any athlete who tests negative for the SRY gene will be eligible to compete in the women’s category at the Olympics. The IOC intends for the screening to serve as a “once-in-a-lifetime test” unless there is “reason to believe the negative reading is in error.”

The IOC did outline exceptions to that rule. Athletes diagnosed with Complete Androgen Insensitivity Syndrome (CAIS) “or other rare differences/disorders in sex development (DSDs), who do not benefit from the anabolic and/or performance-enhancing effects of testosterone” may still be allowed to participate in the women’s category.

Athletes who test positive for the SRY gene will be eligible to compete “in all other classifications for which they qualify,” per the IOC. Those athletes are allowed to take part in the men’s category, can fill the “designated male slot” in mixed events and can participate in any event in which athletes are not classified by sex.

In its release, the IOC outlined how and why the policy was developed. The committee said it was “guided by the IOC’s modern goals relating to equality,” enhancing Olympic value, visibility and inspiration when developing the policy.

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The organization said it consulted with “a range of experts in relevant fields,” reviewed policies and took feedback from other International Federations (IFs) and heard from athletes “potentially impacted by any new policy.” It determined that athletes felt the women’s category should require “clear, science-based eligibility rules.”

The IOC recommended its policy be adopted “by IFs and other sports governing bodies, such as NOCs, National Federations and Continental Associations.” It cautioned that the policy should not apply to “any grassroots or recreational sports programs.”

It’s unclear how much of an impact the new policy will have in 2028. No “woman who transitioned from being born male competed at the 2024 Paris Summer Games,” per the Associated Press.