The decision by the IOC (International Olympic Committee) to restrict participation in female category competitions at the Olympic Games to only biologically female athletes received criticism from associations, at the same time as it generated celebrations from Brazilian politicians.
According to Antra (National Association of Transvestites and Transsexuals), the recent position of the International Olympic Committee “exposes a movement that is not related to sports justice, but rather to the resumption of exclusionary practices disguised as science.”
“The decision not only reinforces stigmas, but also reactivates outdated mechanisms such as gender tests, marked by violations, constraints and the absence of consistent ethical criteria,” the association said in a statement.
The committee presented its new policy, which, according to the entity, aims to protect the women’s category, as part of its initiative to establish a universal rule for competitors in elite women’s sport.
“Eligibility for any competition in the women’s category at the Olympic Games or any other International Olympic Committee event, including individual and team sports, is now limited to biological females, determined based on a one-time SRY gene screening,” the IOC said in a statement.
“This is a setback that speaks more to political and moral pressures than to robust scientific evidence,” added Antra.
Federal deputy Rosangela Moro (União Brasil) celebrated the committee’s decision in a post on her social networks.
“Victory! IOC prohibits trans athletes from competing in the female category at the Olympics. The female category must be reserved for women”, wrote the deputy.
The Committee indicated that trans women will have to compete in the men’s category at the next Olympics. “Athletes who test positive on the SRY test, including XY transgender athletes and XY-DSD athletes with androgen sensitivity, continue to be included in all other classifications for which they qualify. For example, they are eligible for any men’s category, including a designated men’s spot in any mixed category, and any open category, or in sports and events that do not classify athletes by sex,” says an official statement.
IOC President Kirsty Coventry defended the decision. “As a former athlete, I strongly believe in the right of all Olympic athletes to participate in fair competition. The policy we announced is based on science and was led by medical experts. At the Olympic Games, even the smallest margins can be the difference between victory and defeat. Therefore, it is absolutely clear that it would not be fair for biological males to compete in the female category. Furthermore, in some sports, it simply would not be safe.”
In March, more than 80 sports and human rights groups called on the IOC to abandon plans to introduce universal genetic sex testing for female athletes and impose a blanket ban on transgender and intersex competitors.
A joint statement released on the 17th by the Sport & Rights Alliance (SRA), ILGA World, Humans of Sport and dozens of other groups warned that the measures that will supposedly be recommended by the IOC Women’s Category Protection Working Group would represent a setback for gender equality in sport.
Federation rules
Until this Thursday, transgender athletes were allowed to participate in the Olympic Games after being approved by their respective federations.
Some federations, including athletics, swimming and rugby, had already established their own rules, banning athletes who had gone through male puberty from competing in the female category. Many smaller federations, however, had not yet finalized their regulations on the topic.
United States President Donald Trump last year banned transgender athletes from participating in high school, college and professional competitions in the women’s category, as Los Angeles prepares to host the 2028 Summer Olympics.
Trump, who signed the “Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports” order in February 2025, said he would not allow transgender athletes to participate in the Los Angeles Games.
Previous eligibility decisions in women’s sport
At the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, the discussion about gender returned to the center of the sporting debate after a controversy in boxing. Athletes Imane Khelif, from Algeria, and Liu Yu-ting, from Taiwan, had their participation challenged after being excluded from the World Championship by the International Boxing Association due to eligibility criteria.
Khelif, who won Olympic gold, said he had undergone hormonal treatment to reduce testosterone before the Games and had female hormones with the natural SRY gene. For Los Angeles 2028, he is awaiting a response from World Boxing regarding his submitted exams.
The debate is not isolated. In athletics, South African Caster Semenya is challenging in court World Athletics’ requirement that she reduce her hormone levels to compete. She has hyperandrogenism, a condition that causes her to naturally produce more male hormones.
After these events, governments such as those in the United States and England began to adopt restrictions on the participation of trans women in sports, a movement accompanied by stricter signaling from the IOC. The justification is to guarantee equity in the female category, although there is still no scientific consensus on competitive advantages.
The first trans athlete to compete, in the female category, at the Olympic Games was New Zealander Laurel Hubbard, at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. Her participation was authorized by the committee after meeting the criteria for testosterone levels.
