The organisers of the Olympic Games are reportedly working towards a blanket ban on trans women in women’s sports. 

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) may follow the lead of the US Olympic and Paralympic committee by banning trans women from competing in all women’s events, according to Sky News and other outlets.

Olympic chiefs are also said to be looking at prohibiting athletes with difference of sex development from taking part in the Games. The changes are being considered following a presentation to IOC members by the director of their health, medicine and science department, Dr Jane Thornton. 

She is reported to have highlighted the potential physical advantages trans women have in women’s sports, despite other studies showing that they have no such edge at elite level.

IOC members were also informed on how sex testing, which is used by the World Athletics, works. A ban on trans women could be introduced in time for the Los Angeles Games in 2028, although the topic is yet to be presented to a full IOC session where a decision is likely to be made. 

In July, in a move that aligned with an anti-trans executive order signed by president Donald Trump, the US Olympic committee “quietly changed its eligibility rules” with a “short, vaguely worded paragraph” outlining the new policy. 

The revised policy stated that the committee was “committed to protecting opportunities for athletes participating in sport” and will work with the International Olympic Committee, the International Paralympic Committee and the national governing bodies of each Olympic sport, “to ensure that women have a fair and safe competition environment, consistent with Executive Order 14201 and the Ted Stevens Olympic and Amateur Sports Act.”

The move follows IOC president Kirsty Coventry vowing to protect the “female category and athletes”. 

Following the controversy surrounding boxer Imane Khelif at the Paris Olympics last year, as well as policies from athletic bodies, particularly in the US, banning transgender women from competing in women’s sport, Coventry was clear that women’s sport had to be protected.

Algerian Imane Khelif, who won the gold medal in the women’s 66kg event, is not trans.

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