THE International Olympic Committee (IOC) is preparing to prohibit transgender women from competing in female categories across all sports, following a scientific review of physical advantages linked to male puberty, The Times of London reported.
The new policy, expected to be announced early next year under IOC President Kirsty Coventry, follows findings that the physical advantages of being born male “remain even after testosterone suppression.”
The review was presented last week in Lausanne, Switzerland, by Dr. Jane Thornton, the IOC’s medical and scientific director and a former Olympic rower.
“It was a very scientific, factual, and unemotional presentation which quite clearly laid out the evidence,” a source told The Times, adding that IOC members’ feedback was “hugely positive.”
The new rules would replace earlier guidance allowing transgender athletes to compete with reduced testosterone levels, a system that left eligibility to individual sports.
Coventry, a former Olympic swimmer from Zimbabwe, said the updated policy aims to “protect the female category” while maintaining a scientific approach in coordination with sports federations.
The policy may also affect athletes with differences of sexual development (DSD), including those such as Algeria’s Imane Khelif and Taiwan’s Lin Yu-Ting, who won gold medals at the Paris 2024 Olympics amid previous eligibility disputes.
An announcement is expected by February, ahead of the Milan-Cortina Winter Games, pending a legal review of the new rules
