NEWNow you can listen to Pak Gazette articles!
NEW YORK – EXCLUSIVE: The leadership of the United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee (USOPC) indicated it is investigating the use of genetic sex testing amid its new commitment to protecting women’s sports from biological trans male athletes, earning praise from President Donald Trump’s White House.
The White House provided a statement to Pak Gazette Digital in response to comments made by USOPC officials at a press conference Tuesday, praising Trump’s executive order “Keep Men Out of Women’s Sports” and announcing that the organization is investigating genetic sex testing options for U.S. teams.
“Keeping men out of women’s sports is critical to ensuring the safety of female athletes and preserving the integrity of these elite events. As President Trump has said time and time again, this is an issue supported by 97 percent of the American public, and adopting this measure at the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles will ensure fairness for all of the world’s best athletes,” White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly told Pak Gazette Digital.
CLICK HERE FOR MORE SPORTS COVERAGE ON PakGazette.Com
USOPC medical director Dr. Jonathan Finnoff said SRY gene testing used by World Athletics and World Boxing is “not common” in the U.S., but suggested the USOPC is currently exploring options to employ sex testing options for its own teams.
“It’s not necessarily very common to do this specific test in the United States, so our goal was to help identify labs and options for athletes to be able to take that test. And based on that experience, and knowing that some other international federations will probably follow suit, figuring out how we can make this process seamless… is where we are now,” Finnof said. “But we have a good process.”
Meanwhile, USOPC board chairman Gene Sykes called Trump’s executive order to prevent men from participating in women’s sports “consistent with the international trend.”
“And fortunately, the executive order designed to protect women’s sports in the United States is very consistent with the international trend,” Sykes said. “The expectation is that this is where world sport, international sport, will come.”
Trump previously said there will be a “very strong form of testing” in response to a question about mandatory genetic testing for women’s sports at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.
“I think there is going to be a very strong situation test formTrump said. “There will be a very, very strong form of testing, and if the testing doesn’t come out properly, then they won’t be in the Olympics.”
The USOPC amended its athlete safety policy to suggest compliance with Trump’s executive order “Keep Men Out of Women’s Sports” in late July.
“The USOPC will continue to collaborate with various stakeholders with oversight responsibilities…to ensure that women have a fair and safe competition environment consistent with Executive Order 14201,” the policy says.
HOW TRANSGENDERISM IN SPORTS CHANGED THE 2024 ELECTION AND IGNITED A NATIONAL COUNTERCULTURE
The new president of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), Kirsty Coventry, He addressed the issue of transgender athletes competing in women’s sports in his first news conference since taking office in June, saying there is “overwhelming support” from IOC members to protect the women’s category.
“We understand there will be differences depending on the sport… but members made it very clear that we have to protect the women’s category, first and foremost to ensure fairness,” Coventry said. “But we have to do it with a scientific approach and the inclusion of international federations that have already done a lot of work in this area.”
The new president added that there is “unanimous” support for reaching an agreement on how to amend the policy and suggested that the IOC could take inspiration from the World Athletics policy, which restricts biological males from competing in women’s sports if those men have gone through male puberty.
“Members made it very clear that the discussion on this needs to be done with medical and scientific research at the center, so we are looking at the facts and the nuances and the inclusion of the international federations that have done a lot of this work… coming to the table and sharing with us because every sport is different,” he said.
A presentation at a World Athletics panel in Tokyo in September revealed that between 50 and 60 athletes with male biological advantages have been finalists in the women’s category at world and continental championships since 2000.
The panel was headed by the head of the World Athletics Department of Health and Science, Dr. Stéphane Bermon, who stated sex tests were necessary due to an “overrepresentation” of athletes with DSD (differences in sexual development) among the finalists, according to multiple reports.
Last October, the United Nations said that almost 900 biological women have not stood on the podium because they were defeated by trans athletes.
The findings were compiled by Reem Alsalem, UN rapporteur on violence against women and titled “Violence against women and girls in sports.”
The report says that more than 600 athletes did not obtain medals in more than 400 competitions in 29 sports, totaling more than 890 medals, according to information obtained as of March 30.
“The replacement of the women’s sports category with a mixed category has caused an increasing number of athletes to lose opportunities, including medals, when competing against men,” the report states.
