President Donald Trump’s decree that excludes women and transgender women from women’s sports has triggered what will probably be a long and complex confrontation with global sports authorities, while the United States tell the days for the Los Angeles Olympic Games in 2028.
The Order instructs the Justice Department to ensure that US government agencies – state, state and local – apply a prohibition on transgender girls and women in women’s school sports under Trump IX interpretation, a law against gender discrimination. in education.
Trump also stated that he will not allow transgender athletes to comprise in the 2028 games and urged the International Olympic Committee (CoS) to “change everything related to the Olympics and this absolutely ridiculous subject.”
His order may have received praise among his supporters, who say this will restore justice in women’s sport, but there was no immediate manifestation of support from international organizations involved in the battle.
Instead, the order will probably rekindle a debate involving the IOC and several international sports federations on the subject, exposing the enormous variation in regulations.
The IOC has firmly refused to apply any universal rule to its games. Instead, by 2021, he instructed each of the international federations to develop his own rules for his sport. Some, including athletics, swimming and rugby, have established their rules, but many have not yet finalized any policy on the subject.
The IOC responded to Trump’s decree with a neutral tone statement. “Working with the respective international sports federations, the IOC will continue to explain and discuss the various topics with the relevant authorities,” said a spokesman for the entity.
Many observers have been exasperated with Trump’s executive order, pointing out that it confuses transgender competitors with DDS athletes, acronym for “differences in sexual development.”
In people with DDS, changes occur that modify the development of the organs, and some of the characteristics of biological sex may not be so demarcated. In the case of athletes, their bodies can naturally produce more testosterone, giving them a measurable physical advantage in performance.
Olympic participation
The Olympic Games allow transgender athletes since 2004. New Zealand’s weight lifter Laurel Hubbard was the first to do so, in 2021, at the Tokyo Games.
Since then, only a handful of transgender athletes has been to the Olympics, but there is a history of DDS athletes participating. The most famous case is that of the South African corridor of half-life Caster Semenya.
The success of the Olympic champion led to a series of new rules that she and other DDS athletes could compete as women only after medically reducing their testosterone levels. These restrictions have led to more than a decade of decisions and appeals in national and European courts, but DDS athletes remain widely banned from athletics sport.
In theory, the Order of Trump should have a minimum impact on the 2028 games, which do not receive federal funds – it is the threat of cutting the funds for schools and universities that resides the effectiveness of the president’s decree. And the IOC seeks to show firmness in its determination to conduct its events without political interference.
Trump, however, showed little respect for the status quo in other areas and has already indicated that he is prepared to interfere, refusing entry visas.
According to the Order of Trump, the Secretary of State and the internal security department may “revise and adjust, as necessary, policies that allow admission to the United States of men seeking to participate in women’s sports.”
“If you are entering the country and are claiming you are a woman, but you are a man here to compete against women, let’s revise it for fraud,” a government official told reporters.
Such an approach will probably cause friction with the IOC, and the Order of Trump and its consequences will likely be at the top of the agenda for the seven candidates seeking to replace Thomas Bach as president of the IOC. The election will be in March.
Some, such as World Athletics, Sebastian Coe, want the Coi to lead the way by establishing a clear policy to “protect female sport,” as he did with his federation. Others say they want more scientific evidence to support any decision.
None of the candidates are proposing a ban on transgender athletes in the Olympic Games.
