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IOC bans transgender women athletes from 2028 Olympics
The policy aligns with a U.S. executive order and also restricts athletes with DSD (differences in sex development), such as two-time champion Caster Semenya.
LOS ANGELES - The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has announced a landmark policy change that excludes transgender women and certain athletes with DSD from female Olympic categories, effective for the 2028 Los Angeles Games.
What we know:
The new policy limits female category events to "biological females," a status that will be verified via a one-time SRY gene screening.
This rule applies to all individual and team sports under the IOC umbrella.
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The committee stated the move is intended to protect "fairness, safety and integrity in the female category," citing research that biological males retain performance advantages in strength, power, and endurance even after transition.
The policy also explicitly restricts athletes with differences in sex development (DSD), such as runner Caster Semenya.
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What we don't know:
It remains unclear exactly how many athletes currently competing at the elite level will be impacted by this change, as no transgender women competed in the 2024 Paris Games.
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The specific logistics of the "one-time SRY gene screening" and how the IOC will manage privacy concerns regarding these medical tests have not been fully detailed.
Timeline:
June 2025: IOC President Kirsty Coventry initiates a review of "protecting the female category."
Late 2025: Female eligibility becomes a central theme in the IOC presidential election.
March 2026: The IOC Executive Board approves and publishes the 10-page eligibility policy.
July 2028: The policy officially goes into effect at the Los Angeles Summer Olympics.
What they're saying:
The IOC emphasized that the new rules are "not retroactive and does not apply to any grassroots or recreational sports programs."
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Regarding the biological basis for the decision, the IOC document noted: "Males experience three significant testosterone peaks: in utero, in mini-puberty of infancy and beginning in adolescent puberty through adulthood," which creates "individual sex-based performance advantages."
What's next:
The IOC will now work to implement these standards across all international sports federations to ensure a uniform qualifying process for the 2028 Games.
This alignment ends the previous era where individual governing bodies, such as those for swimming or cycling, were responsible for drafting their own disparate rules.
The Source: This report is based on official policy documents and statements released by the International Olympic Committee following their executive board meeting in Lausanne, Switzerland. Information regarding the policy's alignment with U.S. executive orders and previous sporting regulations was provided by the Associated Press, which has monitored the IOC’s internal review process since June 2025.