IOC Requires Genetic Testing for Women's Olympic Events
- On Sunday, two-time Olympic champion Caster Semenya criticized International Committee President Kirsty Coventry over the new policy banning transgender athletes from competing at the Olympics.
- Published in a 10-page document Thursday, the policy excludes transgender women from female Olympic events while restricting female athletes with medical conditions known as DSD.
- Speaking at a Cape Town press conference, Semenya challenged the scientific basis, stating, "you cannot control genetics," and described the consultation process as "ticking a box."
- The International Olympic Committee stated the policy, applicable at the Los Angeles Olympics in July 2028, "protects fairness, safety and integrity in the female category."
- This follows Semenya's seven-year legal challenge against sex eligibility rules, which began after she was banned from her favorite 800m race in 2019 for refusing hormone-reducing medication.
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99 Articles
SRY should not be used for Olympic gender test, says man who discovered it
The scientist who discovered the SRY gene test that the International Olympic Committee is now relying on to determine athletes' eligibility for women's events says it should not be used in such a fashion.
Under New Olympic Sex Testing Policy, A Cis Woman Who Gives Birth Could Be Considered Male
Wikimedia Commons // SamErin In The Morning is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a subscriber.On Thursday, the International Olympic Committee announced that it would ban transgender women and many cisgender women athletes from competing in women's events and institute mandatory genetic screening of all female athletes. The decision is significant—the Olympics has allowed transgender wome…
IOC Bars Trans-Identified Male Athletes From Women’s Events at 2028 Olympics
Athletes who are biologically male but identify as transgender will not be permitted to compete in women’s categories at the 2028 Olympic Games, following a newly adopted policy aimed at maintaining fairness in female competition. The International Olympic Committee announced its updated “Policy on the Protection of the Female (Women’s) Category in Olympic Sport.”
Sex test used in IOC’s new transgender ban more likely to exclude from Olympics intersex women who were assigned female at birth
Sex testing in elite sports has had a long, inconsistent history. anton5146/iStock via Getty Images PlusThe International Olympic Committee announced a new policy on March 26, 2026, for women’s competitions: Every athlete must be tested for a gene called SRY, usually found on the Y chromosome. Males typically have a Y chromosome and females typically don’t, so the IOC says this requirement will exclude “biological males.” This announcement comes…
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