The International Olympic Committee is finally taking a stand for women’s sports. And it only took men punching women in the face on the world stage to make it happen.
After years of ignoring scientific evidence and allowing biological males into female divisions, the IOC is reportedly set to announce a ban on transgender-identifying males from competing in women’s events. The ban would also likely include male athletes with differences in sex development (DSD).
The decision follows a scientific review that confirmed the permanent physical advantages of being born male, even after testosterone suppression.
For Kim Jones, co-founder of the Independent Council on Women’s Sports (ICONS), the reported policy change is long overdue.
“Finally,” she told OutKick in an exclusive interview on Monday. “I’m glad they’re doing it, but it’s just hard to believe this was ever something that needed to be fought for.”
Jones says the “tipping point” came during the 2024 Paris Olympics, when two DSD male boxers — Imane Khelif and Lin Yu-Ting — were allowed to fight women and won gold medals in the process. ICONS, along with Reduxx, helped break the story at the time, revealing that both athletes had previously failed to meet sex-based eligibility requirements but were still allowed to compete.
“That was a big, big breakthrough,” Jones said. “These are men punching women on a global stage for entertainment — the biggest global sports stage. There was a huge public outcry. … So I think that’s massive.”
DSD male boxers Imane Khelif and Lin Yu-Ting sparked global backlash after winning gold medals in women’s boxing at the Paris Summer Olympics.
(Getty Images)
The backlash from the boxing scandal in Paris, Jones said, was too much for the IOC to ignore.
“I think when you get to the point where men are hitting women in the head, the absurdity is going to continue until you’re like, ‘OK, somebody’s got to stop this,'” she explained. “It was the snowball effect. It just kept getting bigger and bigger.”
IOC Report Confirms: Male Athletic Advantage Is Real
According to a report by The Guardian, the IOC’s medical and scientific director presented a detailed review last week confirming that physical advantages persist in athletes who have undergone male puberty, even with hormone treatment.
“It was a very scientific, factual and unemotional presentation,” one IOC insider said. “It clearly laid out the evidence.”
Jones, a former All-American tennis player at Stanford, says she hopes the IOC’s final policy includes mandatory sex verification screening, like the SRY gene test already in use by World Athletics and World Boxing. It’s a solution that only makes sense.
“You can’t create a sports category without having an enforcement mechanism,” Jones explained. “If you have a weight class, you’ve got to have a scale to step on. And if you have an age group category, you have to be able to verify the age of your athletes.Â
“So if you have a women’s category, you have got to have that verification or enforcement mechanism in place.”
Protestors in California hold signs in support of protecting girls’ sports outside a high school track meet.
(Photo by Kirby Lee/Getty Images)
For Jones, this isn’t a political issue at all. It’s just a matter of basic biology and fairness.
“People can gain weight or lose weight and change weight classes. They can age into new age groups,” she said. “But they cannot change their sex. It’s rock solid. It’s immutable.”
While Progress Is Made Globally, Blue States Dig In Their Heels
While international sports bodies are beginning to accept reality, Democratic lawmakers in the U.S. continue to deny it. Despite President Donald Trump’s executive order to protect girls’ and women’s sports, several states still allow males into women’s divisions and locker rooms at the scholastic and recreational levels.
“California. Oregon. Minnesota. We’re on the phone with women and girls in these states — in hockey leagues, soccer leagues, middle school teams — and they’re facing horrible, unsafe situations,” Jones said. “They’re being humiliated. And they’re not being protected by leadership.”
While a hodgepodge of legal battles are currently underway, Jones says federal court rulings are urgently needed to establish consistent protections for women and girls across all 50 states.
“There are a whole bunch of lawsuits right now coming from men suing for access to women’s sports. There are active lawsuits in New York, Massachusetts, California, and more states, too,” she said. “And we’re supporting three federal cases right now — including Riley Gaines’ lawsuit — because that’s what it’s going to take. We need binding legal decisions.”
U.S. 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.
(Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)
The U.S. Supreme Court is set to hear two cases in the coming months regarding the legality of statewide bans on transgender athletes in the female category. These rulings could have sweeping implications for the future of women’s sports.Â
And as a mother of four — including two daughters who compete in athletics — Jones is hoping that the future is a bright one. That’s why she, along with 15x All-American swimmer Marshi Smith, founded ICONS.
“There’s no way I’m leaving this world to my granddaughters like this,” she said. “Another generation of women and girls cannot face this public abuse. It can’t continue.”
Hopefully, following the IOC’s reported course correction, the dominoes will continue to fall in the right direction.