Transgender women athletes are now barred from women’s competitions at the Olympic Games after the IOC, yesterday approved a new eligibility policy that aligns with US President Donald Trump’s decree on sports ahead of the 2028 Los Angeles Games.

The IOC states that eligibility for any women’s category at the Olympic Games or any other IOC events, including individual and team sports, is now restricted to biological women, as determined by a one-time SRY gene test.

It is unclear how many transgender women, if any, compete at the Olympic level. No woman who transitioned after being born male participated in the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, although weightlifter Laurel Hubbard competed at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics without winning a medal.

The eligibility policy, which will take effect from the Los Angeles Olympic Games in July 2028, “protects fairness, safety, and integrity in the women’s category,” the IOC said.

It is not retroactive and does not apply to mass or amateur sports programmes, noted the IOC, whose charter proclaims that access to sports is a human right.

Following an executive board meeting, the IOC released a 10-page policy document that also restricts the participation of some female athletes, including two-time Olympic runner Caster Semenya, who has medical conditions known as differences in sex development (DSD).

The IOC and its president, Kirsty Coventry, sought a clear policy instead of the previous practice of providing recommendations to sports federations, which then developed their own rules.

At the Olympic Games, even the smallest difference can determine victory or defeat. Therefore, it is absolutely clear that it would be unfair for biological males to compete in the women’s category, Coventry, a two-time Olympic swimming champion, said.

She initiated a review of the policy to “protect the women’s category” as one of her first major decisions last June, becoming the first woman to head the IOC in its 132-year history.