IOC to Ban Trans Women from All Female Olympic Events: Report

New York Post

Watch IOC to Ban Trans Women from All Female Olympic Events: Report - New York Post on Dailymotion

Transcript

00:00The International Olympic Committee is set to ban transgender women from competing in

00:05all female categories, according to a new report.

00:09The change is set to be officially announced early next year, The Times reported on Monday,

00:13citing sources.

00:15The decision to overhaul the current policy was made after the sporting committee carried

00:19out a science-based review of a biologically born male's permanent physical advantages,

00:25the sources said.

00:26The findings were presented by the IOC's medical and scientific director, Dr. Jane Thornton,

00:32in a closed-door meeting last week.

00:35It was a very scientific, factual, and unemotional presentation, which quite clearly laid out

00:40the evidence, a source told the outlet.

00:44Under the current guidance, transgender women have been able to compete in the female category

00:48with reduced testosterone levels, but the decision has ultimately been left up to individual

00:53sports.

00:54An IOC spokesperson on Monday denied, however, that a decision had been made.

00:59An update was given by the IOC's Director of Health, Medicine and Science to the IOC members

01:04last week during the IOC Commission meetings.

01:08The working group is continuing its discussions on this topic and no decisions have been taken

01:12yet.

01:14Further information will be provided in due course, the spokesperson told The Post.

01:19At the Tokyo Games in 2021, New Zealand weightlifter Laurel Hubbard became the first transgender

01:25woman to compete in the Olympics.

01:27That same year, non-binary Canadian soccer player Quinn competed and won gold with their

01:32team in the women's category.

01:35And Chelsea Wolfe, a transgender woman, was selected as an alternate for the United States'

01:40BMX freestyle team, although she did not compete.

01:44At the Paris Games in 2024, female Algerian boxer Iman Khalif sparked outrage after it came

01:51to light she had been disqualified from the previous year's World Championships after

01:55failing to meet its gender eligibility criteria.

01:58The IBA, the governing body of the World Championships at the time, has revealed little information about

02:04what tests and criteria were used to make the determination.

02:08Khalif, who went on to win gold in Paris, has maintained that she was born a woman and

02:13has never identified as transgender.

02:15The new blanket rule comes after the IOC's new chief, Kirstie Coventry, vowed earlier this

02:21year to protect the female sporting category.

02:24We understand that there will be differences depending on the sports, but it was fully agreed

02:30that as members and as the IOC we should make the effort to place emphasis on the protection

02:39of the female category and that we should ensure that this is done in consensus with all

02:46the stakeholders.

02:47But we need to do that with a scientific approach and with the inclusion of working with the International

02:53Federations, whom have already done a lot of work in this area.

02:58Coventry, who is also an ex-Olympic swimmer from Zimbabwe, acknowledged there was unanimous

03:03support for reaching an agreement about how best to amend the policy.

03:08It wasn't clear if the new guidance would be implemented before the 2026 Winter Olympics in

03:12Italy.

Category

Transcript

Be the first to comment

Recommended