Name: Olympic women's sport limited to biological females | BBC News
Uploaded: 2026-03-27T12:40:24.000Z
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The women's category of Olympic sports will be limited to biological females from 2028.

The International Olympic Committee says that eligibility will be determined by a once-in-a-lifetime sex test which would prevent transgender women and those with differences in sexual development from competing.

It will take effect from the Los Angeles Olympics.

The new policy was announced by the President of the IOC, Kirsty Coventry.

I understand that this is a very sensitive topic.

As a former athlete, I passionately believe in the rights of all Olympians to take part in fair competition.

The policy that we have announced is based on science,

and it has been led by medical experts with the best interests of athletes at its heart.

The scientific evidence is very clear: male chromosomes give performance advantages in sports that rely on strength, power, or endurance.

At the Olympic Games, even the smallest margins can be the difference between victory and defeat, so it's absolutely clear that it would not be fair for biological males to compete in the female category.

Let's take you to Hugh Farris, who joins us from the BBC Sports Center.

Hugh, just give us some more detail about this ruling from the IOC and some of the background, too.

Coming just in the last, uh, few minutes or so, the announcement from the IOC through their President, Kirsty Coventry, that, uh, this will take effect from the LA Games in 2028 for all IOC events beyond just, uh, the Olympic Games, saying that it is evidence-based and expert-informed and protects fairness, safety, and

You heard, uh, words, uh, very much of that nature from Kirsty Coventry as well.

This will affect all of those females wanting to, uh, appear in the women's events at future Olympics.

They will have to go this SRY gene screening to detect their biological sex.

Usually, uh, that is done non-invasively: a cheek swab or a saliva test or perhaps a blood test as well.

Until this announcement, the debate had been raging throughout sport.

The IOC had left, uh, sex eligibility very much up to each governing body of the individual sports rather than applying a universal approach.

But they have now decided to, uh, uh, apply that approach not only for, uh, transgender athletes but also for those athletes, as you mentioned, DSD, differences in sexual development.

This, uh, debate really started in earnest with, uh, a DSD athlete called Custis Amenu, a two-time Olympic gold medal, uh, winner at the 2012 and 2016 Games in the women's 800 meters.

Then in 2021, the New Zealand weightlifter, Laurel Hubbard, became the first transgender woman to compete at an Olympics after transitioning.

But this blanket approach has, uh, been one that has followed individual sports like athletics and boxing, uh, using this SRY gene screening test.

Uh, opponents, though, remain concerned that that genetic test is invasive and can lead to a potential false positive.

Gene screening like this, uh, was eventually abolished after being used in the 1980s in the 1990s.

So no doubt, uh, even though this, uh, um, has been very much an announcement that has been waited for and delivered, that the debate and the conversation will continue into the coming months ahead of those 2028 LA Games.