Transgender women ruled out of women’s Olympic events under new IOC policy
The International Olympic Committee says only biological women will be eligible for the female category beginning with the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.
On Thursday, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) announced a new policy aimed at “protecting the female category” in Olympic sport. Under the new rules, only biological women will be eligible to compete in women’s events, starting with the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games.
Transgender women athletes are now excluded from women's events at the Olympics after the IOC agreed to a new eligibility policy on Thursday which aligns with U.S. President Donald Trump's executive order on sports ahead of the 2028 Los Angeles Games. https://t.co/1YIz86Oqsh
— ESPN (@espn) March 26, 2026
Why the IOC will limit women’s Olympic events to biological females in 2028
Eligibility for the female category will initially be determined through testing for the SRY gene, which is present only in biological males. Athletes must test negative to compete.
“The IOC considers the presence of the SRY gene to be fixed throughout life and a highly accurate indicator that an athlete has undergone male sexual development,” the organization said in a statement announcing the new rule, which was approved by its Executive Board.
The policy allows for “rare exceptions”, including athletes diagnosed with complete androgen insensitivity syndrome or other differences of sex development that do not provide performance advantages linked to testosterone. However, transgender athletes with XY chromosomes (biological males) and those with androgen-sensitive differences of sex development will be required to compete in the male category.
The IOC noted that the testing process, using saliva or blood samples, is minimally invasive compared to other potential methods and only needs to be conducted once in an athlete’s lifetime.
IOC President Kirsty Coventry said the policy is grounded in science and developed with input from medical experts. She added that allowing biological males to compete in the female category is “unfair” and, in some sports, “not safe”.
👩🏻🤔Kristy Coventry, presidenta del Comité Olímpico Internacional, anunció que a partir de #LosÁngeles2028, sólo mujeres biológicas podrán competir en las categorías femeninas de los deportes olímpicos. Coventry afirmó que la decisión se basa en criterios científicos y de equidad pic.twitter.com/ihrkFEMV4P
— El Universal Puebla (@UniversalPuebla) March 26, 2026
The new guidelines were developed by an IOC working group created in response to growing controversies surrounding women’s sport. Among the most notable were those at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, involving boxers Imane Khelif of Algeria and Lin Yu-ting of Taiwan. Both had previously been disqualified from the 2023 World Championships by the International Boxing Association after reportedly failing gender eligibility tests.
The IOC emphasized that the new rule is intended to “protect fairness, safety, and integrity in the female category”. It will apply across all sports on the Olympic program, both individual and team events, although the organization clarified that it does not extend to grassroots or recreational sports.
According to the IOC, the policy is based on the widely accepted principle that a female category is necessary to ensure equal access to elite sport for both men and women.
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