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The International Olympic Committee is preparing to ban transgender women from female Olympic events. The Times of London reported Monday that the policy decision comes after a scientific review that found “permanent physical advantages of being born male.”
Former Olympic gold medalist Caitlyn Jenner, a transgender woman, has long advocated for restricting transgender women from competing in female sports categories.
“I am a trans woman, but I am still biologically male,” said Jenner Tuesday on “America Reports.”
“I’m XY. There’s nothing I can do to change that. Males do have a better advantage, a big advantage in sports over women. It’s just not fair.”
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The former Olympic champion has expressed support for the International Olympic Committee’s expected ban on transgender women in female sports, citing biological advantages that hormone therapy cannot fully mitigate. (David McNew/Getty Images)
“We have to do the right thing. If we don’t stop it now, it will just destroy women’s sports,” Jenner said.
The IOC’s current policy leaves the decision on whether to allow transgender athletes to compete up to each individual sport’s governing body. Leadership changes are expected to alter that policy.
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Kirsty Coventry, the IOC’s first female president, has signaled she is willing to take a firmer stance on fairness in women’s sports. In June, Coventry said the IOC must “protect the female category, first and foremost to ensure fairness.”
Jenner, who won Olympic gold at the 1976 Montreal Games before her transition, voiced her support for Coventry. She’s been open about her experiences as a transgender woman and argues that biological sex differences cannot be fully mitigated by hormone therapy.
Protesters for and against gender-affirming care for transgender minors demonstrate outside the Supreme Court on Dec. 4, 2024, in Washington. (Jose Luis Magana/Associated Press file)
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“Good for her, because she knows it’s wrong,” said Jenner on Coventry’s expected decision.
“It takes a good woman to come in there and really make some good changes.”
The policy update is expected to be announced in February before the Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics in 2026. It would come before the Los Angeles Olympics in 2028.
President Donald Trump joined by women athletes signs the “No Men in Women’s Sports” executive order in the East Room at the White House on February 5 in Washington, DC. (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)
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The IOC’s review comes after controversy in women’s boxing at the Paris 2024 Olympics. Two boxers, Algeria’s Imane Khelif and Taiwan’s Lin Yu-Ting, won gold medals despite earlier disqualifications at the 2023 World Championships for failing gender-eligibility criteria.
President Donald Trump has also taken a tough stance on women’s sports. He signed an executive order earlier this year prohibiting schools and colleges that receive federal funding from allowing biological men onto women’s sports teams and into women’s locker rooms. If institutions fail to comply, they could risk losing federal funds.
