Transgender women set to be banned from Olympics under new eligibility rules ahead of Los Angeles 2028

Transgender women are set to be banned from competing at the Olympics under a rule change likely to be announced by the International Olympic Committee next year.

The first major shift under new president Kirsty Coventry, a two-time swimming gold medallist, is expected to be implemented ahead of the Los Angeles 2028 Olympics.

US President Donald Trump has taken a stand against transgender women in sport since returning to office, with Coventry and the IOC since seeking to unify the Games.

Olympic sports currently set their own eligibility rules.

But that is likely to change in the coming months after the IOC’s medical and scientific director Dr Jane Thornton put forward her first findings in what has been reported as a “scientific, factual, dispassionate and unemotional” presentation.

The Times reported Thornton provided evidence that athletes who went through puberty as a male retain advantages over women even after undergoing testosterone-reduction treatment.

“An update was given by the IOC’s director of health, medicine and science to the IOC members last week during the IOC commission meetings,” the IOC said in a statement.

“The working group is continuing its discussions on this topic and no decisions have been taken yet. Further information will be provided in due course.”

The IOC is unlikely to rush into the rule changes and risk a legal challenge — particularly on DSD, or differences of sexual development, which could yet be covered by the new policy.

Gender testing and female athletes who have male chromosomes and high levels of testosterone became a flashpoint at Paris 2024.

Imane Khelif and Lin Yu-Ting won boxing gold medals under a wave of scrutiny sparked by the sport’s administration dramas.

The previous governing body for Olympic boxing, the Russian-dominated International Boxing Association, had disqualified both fighters from their 2023 world championships after claiming they failed unspecified eligibility tests.

The IBA was banished for decades of misdeeds and controversy, and the IOC ran the past two Olympic boxing tournaments themselves, applying the sex eligibility rules used in previous Olympics.

Khelif and Lin, who are not transgender, were eligible to compete under those standards.

World Boxing, which will oversee boxing in the 2028 Olympics, has since introduced mandatory sex testing for all boxers in its competition, with Khelif to miss the world championships while seeking to overturn the ruling.

Prior to Paris 2024, New Zealand weightlifter Laurel Hubbard became the first openly transgender woman to compete at an Olympics when she debuted at Tokyo in 2021.

Hubbard, who had previously competed at the world championships and Commonwealth Games, failed to complete her three lifts and finished last in her division.

World Rugby, World Athletics and World Aquatics are among the Olympic sports bans that have already banned transgender women or athletes who went through puberty before transitioning.

- with AAP