The International Olympic Committee (IOC) announced on March 26 that eligibility for women's events at the Olympic Games will be restricted to biological females, a decision that excludes transgender-identifying athletes who were born male from competing in female categories.

"Eligibility for any female category event at the Olympic Games or any other IOC event, including individual and team sports, is now limited to biological females," the IOC stated in a 10-page policy document.

Eligibility will be determined through a mandatory genetic test, administered once during an athlete's career. The IOC said the policy "protects fairness, safety and integrity in the female category." The rule is not retroactive and does not apply to grassroots or recreational sports programs. It is set to take effect for the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles.

The policy document cited physiological research, noting that "males experience three significant testosterone peaks: In utero, in mini-puberty of infancy, and beginning in adolescent puberty through adulthood," which experts say confer performance advantages in strength, power, and endurance that are retained even after gender transition.

The ruling would also affect athletes with differences in sexual development, such as two-time Olympic champion runner Caster Semenya, according to the policy document.

Days prior to the announcement, the Sport & Rights Alliance (SRA), ILGA World, Humans of Sport, and more than 100 allied organizations issued a joint statement urging the IOC to abandon genetic testing mandates. "A sex testing and blanket ban policy would be a catastrophic erosion of women's rights and safety," said Andrea Florence, Executive Director of the Sport & Rights Alliance.

The IOC's decision follows U.S. President Donald Trump's executive order aimed at preserving the integrity of women's sports. On March 12, Trump stated at a Women's History Month event, "We have put the world on notice that America will not allow men to compete against women in the 2028 Olympics."

No male-born transgender athletes competed in the 2024 Paris Summer Games. Transgender-identifying weightlifter Laurel Hubbard previously competed for New Zealand's women's team at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics without medaling.

Source: https://www.zerohedge.com/political/ioc-bars-transgender-athletes-womens-events-olympic-games (via The Epoch Times, authored by Savannah Hulsey Pointer). The Associated Press contributed to the original report.