![\"Kirsty](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/1f9beea7fa9110f83ca01b288a2eec25.jpeg\")
<\/p>\nOnly biological female athletes, whose gender has been determined by a one-time gene-screening test, will now be eligible to take part in women’s category events at the Olympic Games, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) has said.<\/p>\n
The new rules essentially stop transgender athletes from competing in female category events at the Olympics; they had previously been eligible to compete at the Games once cleared by their respective federations.<\/p>\n
Following an 18-month consultation phase, the IOC unveiled its policy for the Olympic Games, Youth Olympics and Games qualifiers.<\/p>\n
It is widely expected to be adopted by international sports federations and become a universal rule for competitors in female elite sports, after years of fragmented regulation that led to major controversies.<\/p>\n
All athletes wanting to qualify or take part in female category events from the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles onwards will \u200chave to undergo an SRY gene test to determine their eligibility.<\/p>\n
“Based on scientific evidence, the IOC considers that the presence of the SRY gene is fixed throughout life and represents highly accurate evidence that an athlete has experienced male sex development,” the IOC said in a statement.<\/p>\n
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New IOC Kirsty Coventry president says it would “not be fair” for men to compete in women’s categories. (Getty Images: Milos Bicanski)<\/p>\n
The screening would be conducted via saliva, cheek swab or blood sample and was unintrusive compared to other methods, the IOC said, and would be done only once in the \u200cathlete’s career. SRY stands for sex determining region Y gene.<\/p>\n
The Olympic body had long declined to apply any universal rule on transgender participation in the Olympics, and in 2021 instructed international federations to come up \u2060with their own guidelines.<\/p>\n
New IOC president Kirsty Coventry did a U-turn immediately after taking over in June last year, saying the organisation \u200cwould take the lead for a uniform approach.<\/p>\n
“At the Olympic Games, even the smallest margins can be the difference between victory and defeat,” Ms Coventry said.<\/p>\n
“So, \u200cit is absolutely clear that it would not be fair for biological males to compete in the female category. In addition, in some sports it would simply not be safe.<\/p>\n
Transgender inclusion guidelines for Australian sport<\/a><\/p>\n The Australian Sports Commission released its guidelines for the inclusion of transgender and gender diverse athletes in high-performance sport in 2023.<\/p>\n “I really believe this policy is foundationally based in science and led by medical experts. We know that this topic is sensitive.<\/p>\n “Safety on the field of play and fairness. One of the things we like to see in sport is fair and equal treatment of everyone on that field of play. Those are the two personal reasons I felt very strongly about this.”<\/p>\n There have been multiple studies conducted around the issue, and a systematic review with meta-analysis was published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine<\/a> last month.<\/p>\n The review from Brazil, titled Body Composition And Physical Fitness In Transgender Versus Cisgender Individuals, compiled research from 52 studies including 6,485 participants.<\/p>\n It found: “While transgender women exhibited higher lean mass than cisgender women, their physical fitness was comparable.<\/p>\n “Current evidence is mostly low certainty and has heterogenous quality but does not support theories of inherent athletic advantages for transgender women over cisgender.”<\/p>\n New Zealand weightlifter Laurel Hubbard could not complete a clean lift when she competed at the Tokyo Olympics. (Getty Images: Martin Rickett\/PA Images)<\/p>\n The research said “empirical evidence challenges initial concerns that transgender women would dominate women’s sports, largely due to the physiological effects of testosterone suppression therapy”.<\/p>\n The IOC’s new rules have no retroactive power \u200cand no impact on grassroots or amateur sports.<\/p>\n There were exceptions, the IOC said, for rare cases of sex development.<\/p>\n![\"Weightlifter](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/adc442bd78cd4e04789d6abcee902eaa.jpeg\")
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