IOC Says Consensus Reached on Transgender Eligibility, Expects Announcement in First Half of Year

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has stated that a certain level of consensus has been reached across the sports world regarding eligibility for competition by transgender athletes, and that it may be able to announce a new policy within a few months.

IOC spokesperson Mark Adams said at a press conference held on the 8th (local time) in Milan, Italy, "We have taken sufficient time to gather opinions and deliberate, and a certain degree of consensus has been formed across the sports community," adding, "Although I cannot give a definite answer, we expect a new policy to be announced in the first half of this year."

Kirsty Coventry, Chair of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) [Photo by Reuters-Yonhap]

Although the specific details have not yet been made public, it is widely understood that the core of the policy is likely to be restrictions on participation in women’s events by transgender athletes who have gone through male puberty.

This policy is expected to be the first in IOC history to be applied uniformly to all International Federations (IFs). In 2021, the IOC recommended that each federation autonomously establish its own eligibility rules in light of the characteristics of each sport, but it has since faced criticism that differing standards by sport have caused significant confusion.

Protecting women’s events is one of the key reform initiatives of IOC Chair Kirsty Coventry, who took office last year. Immediately after taking office, Chair Coventry established a “Working Group on the Protection of Women’s Events” and began working with experts and representatives of each international federation to develop fair competition standards.

Once new eligibility criteria for transgender athletes are established, attention is expected to focus on how these criteria will be applied at the next Summer Olympics in Los Angeles (LA). This is because U.S. President Trump has maintained a hard-line stance on transgender athletes. President Trump recently signed an executive order on “excluding males from women’s sports,” completely banning transgender athletes from competing in women’s events not only in school sports but also in professional competitions. President Trump has stated that he intends to maintain this policy for the 2028 LA Summer Olympics as well.