Transgender women and DSD competitors to be banned from all female Olympic events after Imane Khelif controversy
A source confirmed to The Times that the findings applied to transgender athletes as well as those with differences in sexual development (DSD)
By Callum Wells
The International Olympic Committee will ban transgender women from competing in female events starting next year.
The decision follows a review sparked by disputes at the Paris 2024 Olympics involving gold medallist Imane Khelif of Algeria and Lin Yu-ting of Chinese Taipei.
The IOC’s medical and scientific director, Dr Jane Thornton, presented research to committee members claiming athletes assigned male at birth retain “physical advantages” even after undergoing testosterone-lowering treatments.
A source confirmed to The Times that the findings applied to transgender athletes as well as those with differences in sexual development (DSD).
The new policy aligns with moves from World Athletics, led by Seb Coe
Until now, the IOC permitted transgender women to compete in women’s categories if their testosterone levels met sport-specific requirements. The new policy aligns with moves from World Athletics, led by Seb Coe, aimed at allegedly protecting female competitions.
Kirsty Coventry, the former Zimbabwean swimmer who became IOC president in June, will oversee the policy’s implementation. Coventry previously established a taskforce of scientists and sports federations to create new rules after controversies in recent Games. She emphasised that the IOC would not revisit past results.
Coventry said: “We are going to be looking forward. From the members that were here, it was ‘what are we learning from the past and how are we going to leverage that and move that forward to the future’.”
“There was overwhelming support that we should protect the female category” – Kirsty Coventry, IOC president
Khelif has stated that she was born and raised female. People with DSD have biological characteristics of both sexes. Laurel Hubbard of New Zealand was the first transgender athlete to compete at an Olympics, appearing at Tokyo 2020.
Coventry described the new approach as a consensus-driven effort, stating, “There was overwhelming support that we should protect the female category. And with that, we will set up a working group made up of experts and international federations.
“It was agreed by the members that the IOC should take a leading role in this. And that we should be the ones to bring together the experts and the international federations and ensure that we find consensus.
“We understand that there will be differences depending on the sports. But it was fully agreed that as members that, as the IOC, we should make the effort to place emphasis on protection of the female category.”