Transgender women athletes banned from female events at Olympics by IOC

Olympic committee says move will protect ‘fairness and safety’ as DSD athletes also face exclusion from future Olympics

Paris 2024 Olympic Games, Le Golf National, Guyancourt, Paris, France 1/8/2024. Picture: ©INPHO/James Crombie

The International Olympic Committee has banned transgender women and DSD athletes from the female category of events at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics and future Games. Kirsty Coventry, president of the IOC, said: “It would not be fair for biological males to compete in the female category.” 

The IOC has also confirmed that all athletes wanting to compete in the female category at future Olympics will have to undergo a one-off SRY (sex determining region Y gene) gene screening to detect their biological sex. Usually that is done via a non-intrusive cheek-swab or saliva test.