The International Olympic Committee has banned “biological males” (or people assigned men at birth) from competing in women’s sporting events.
On Thursday, the IOC announced a new policy limiting female sports events to people assigned female at birth.
The policy bans biological male athletes like Algerian boxer Imane Khelif who identifies as a woman. The policy will go into effect at the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, California.
The policy will be enforced through a one-time gene screening program.
Imane Khelif (pictured here and above) won a gold medal in women’s boxing at the 2024 Summer Olympics.
Khelif confirmed sex testing verified they had XY chromosomes, which are associated with biological males. Khelif was raised as a girl due to deformed genitals.
Olympic gold medalist Caster Semenya, of South Africa, participated in female track & field events. Semenya was assigned female at birth due to ambiguous genitals. But sex testing confirmed they have XY (male) chromosomes.
“At the Olympic Games, even the smallest margins can be the difference between victory and defeat,” IOC President Kirsty Coventry said. “It would not be fair for biological males to compete in the female category,” she added.
The IOC said the policy is intended to “ensure fairness, and to protect safety, particularly in contact sports.” The Olympics previously announced it was leaving eligibility decisions to individual federations.
The new policy aligns with U.S. President Donald Trump’s “Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports” executive order. It follows a similar policy adopted by the U.S. Olympic Committee last year.
