IOC edges closer to ban on transgender women in female Olympic events

The International Olympic Committee is edging closer towards implementing a ban on transgender women competing in the female category in time for the Los Angeles Olympics.

Multiple sources expect such a ban to come into effect over the next six to 12 months with the new IOC president, Kirsty Coventry, making clear she wants to drive through her campaign pledge to protect the female category.

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Speculation that the IOC would introduce a new policy as soon as January intensified on Monday after it was reported that its director of health, medicine and science, Dr Jane Thornton, had given a science-based review of the evidence to its members last week, showing there were permanent physical advantages to being born male.

Thornton, a former Canadian rower, also explained how some sports, such as World Athletics, were now using the SRY cheek-swab gene test to determine the biological sex of athletes in what was said by one source to be “a factual and dispassionate presentation”.

The IOC, however, quickly denied any decision had been made. It is also understood that its working group on the issue is still continuing its deliberations, and the summer of 2026 is a more realistic timeframe for the new policy.