Only biological females, determined by gene screening, will be allowed in Olympic female events

LAUSANNE – Only biological female athletes, whose gender will be determined by a one-time gene-screening test, will now be eligible to take part in female category events at the Olympic Games, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) said on March 26.

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.

Following an 18-month consultation phase, the IOC unveiled its policy for the Olympic Games, Youth Olympics and Games qualifiers. 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.

All athletes wanting to qualify or take part in female category events from the LA2028 Olympics onwards will have to undergo an SRY gene test to determine their eligibility.

“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.

The screening will be conducted via saliva, cheek swab or blood sample and is unintrusive compared to other methods, the IOC said, and will be done only once in the athlete’s career. SRY stands for sex determining region Y gene.

The IOC had long declined to apply any universal rule on transgender participation in the Olympics and in 2021 instructed international federations to come up with their own guidelines.

New IOC president Kirsty Coventry did a U-turn immediately after taking over in June 2025, saying her organisation would take the lead for a uniform approach.

“At the Olympic Games, even the smallest margins can be the difference between victory and defeat,” Coventry said in the statement.

“So, it 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.”

Coventry, a former Zimbabwean swimmer who won seven medals from Athens 2004 and Beijing 2008, told a press conference: “I really believe this policy is foundationally based in science and led by medical experts. We know that this topic is sensitive.

“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.”

The new rules have no retroactive power and no impact on grassroots or amateur sports, but there are exceptions for rare cases of sex development.

“With the rare exception of athletes with a diagnosis of Complete Androgen Insensitivity Syndrome (CAIS) or other rare differences/disorders in sex development (DSDs) who do not benefit from the anabolic and/or performance-enhancing effects of testosterone, no athlete with an SRY-positive screen is eligible... in the female category at an IOC event,” the IOC said.

The Paris 2024 Olympics were hit by a major gender row involving two boxers – Algeria’s Imane Khelif and Chinese Taipei’s Lin Yu-ting – competing in the female categories, with both winning gold in their weight classes.

A year earlier, they had been banned from the world championships by their international federation over a gender eligibility test.

In February 2026, Khelif had said she will comply with genetic testing requirements, as long as the tests are conducted by IOC, to be able to participate in competitions.

World Boxing, which will oversee boxing competitions at the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles after being granted provisional recognition by the IOC, announced in May 2025 mandatory sex testing for all boxers in its competitions.

Khelif, who lodged an appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport over World Boxing’s decision barring her from events unless she undergoes genetic sex testing, said she would undergo the testing only if it is administered by the IOC.

“Of course, I would accept doing anything I’m required to do to participate in competitions,” Khelif, 26, told CNN.

“They should protect women, but they need to pay attention that while protecting women, they shouldn’t hurt other women.

“I’m not transgender. I’m a woman. I want to live my life. Please do not exploit me in your political agendas.”

Lin has since been cleared to compete in the female category at events run by World Boxing.

Gender testing was first introduced at the 1968 Olympics and last used at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta but then scrapped after criticism from the scientific community.

Some federations, including athletics, swimming and rugby union, had already drawn up their own rules, barring athletes who have gone through male puberty from competing in the women’s class. Many smaller federations, however, have yet to finalise their own regulations on the matter.

Even before the IOC policy announcement, however, human rights and sports advocacy groups voiced their opposition to any gender testing.

“Sports is where excellence, respect and inclusion meet,” said Kimberly Frost, world co-secretary-general of ILGA, a federation of LGBTQ+ rights groups, following the IOC announcement.

“But, instead, the IOC decided to create more scrutiny on the body of any woman who would have just wanted to play the game she loves – from the Olympics, trickling down to every playground. How is this protection?”

Only a handful of openly transgender athletes have taken part in the Games. New Zealand’s Laurel Hubbard became the first openly transgender athlete to compete in a different gender category to that assigned at birth when the weightlifter took part in the Tokyo Games.

United States President Donald Trump in 2025 banned transgender athletes from competing in school, college and pro events in the female category in the country.

Mr Trump, who signed the Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports order in February 2025, said he would not allow transgender athletes to compete at the LA Games. REUTERS, AFP