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Reports that the International Olympic Committee (IOC) will ban biological trans male athletes from women’s competitions have sparked reactions from figures involved in protecting women’s sports.
Amid a global movement to ensure women-only participation in women’s sports, potential IOC reform would mark one of the biggest global moves to achieve that goal to date.
In the United States, the Supreme Court will hear two cases on the issue and they could lead to reform on a similar scale. The case of Little vs. Hecox and West Virginia v. BPJ, which will likely be heard by SCOTUS judges in early 2026, could result in a landmark precedent for protecting women’s sports.
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Kriston Wagoner, president and CEO of Alliance Defending Freedom, which is helping lead defenses in those cases, provided a statement to Pak Gazette Digital addressing her reaction to reports about the potential IOC decision.
“I am encouraged that the IOC is moving toward a long-awaited decision to ban men from competing in women’s Olympic events. Women do not train their entire lives to become elite athletes only to be displaced by men and then criticized for speaking out about it,” Wagoner said. “If the IOC moves forward with this policy, it will be a welcome step in the right direction. But there is still work to be done to protect women and girls at all levels of competition. In January, the ADF will support WV&ID in its defense of women’s school sports before the Supreme Court.”
Three other lawsuits in the United States seeking to address previous cases of trans athletes in women’s sports and achieve restitution for women who were affected are being funded by the Independent Council for Women’s Sports (ICONS).
ICONS co-founders Kim Jones and Marshi Smith helped raise funds for Riley Gaines’ lawsuit against the NCAA, Brooke Slusser’s lawsuit against the NCAA, and three former UPenn swimmers against that university over the 2022 Lia Thomas scandal.
Jones and Smith addressed reports of possible IOC reform in statements provided to Pak Gazette Digital.
“ICONS welcomes the IOC’s long-ago move to restore fairness and integrity to women’s Olympic competition. This change only came after the world watched the security and fairness of women’s events collapse in Paris, where male boxers violently seized medals intended for women,” Smith said.
THE NEW HEAD OF THE OLYMPIC GAMES ASKS TO ‘PROTECT’ THE FEMALE CATEGORY AMID THE WORLDWIDE WAVE OF TRANS ATHLETES
“It should never have taken global outrage and loss of gold medals to come to our senses, but this marks an important step towards reality for the world’s most powerful sports committee. We are eager to see how the IOC enforces its new eligibility rules, as strong and transparent enforcement is essential for real progress. Fortunately, the IOC can look to successful examples from World Athletics and World Boxing, which have recently implemented science- and sex-based standards that protect the women’s categories.
“It is also important to clarify that this is not a ‘transgender’ or DSD ban, but rather a long-needed clarification of eligibility, confirming that participation in the women’s category is based on genetic sex, ideally verified through a simple, accurate and non-invasive cheek swab to ensure fairness, safety and integrity in the competition.”
Jones added: “There are too many women who lost records, awards and recognition, opportunities to compete on a world stage, because of bad policies and those women deserve an apology and a sincere effort to make things right. We look forward to a future with transparency and accountability for women in sports.”
Current IOC policy leaves it up to the governing body of each individual sport to develop policies regulating transgender athletes. But when the IOC changed its leadership, The London Times reported Monday that its policies will also change.
IOC President Kirsty Coventry called for “protecting” the women’s category in June and there was “overwhelming support” from IOC members to do the same.
“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 at the time.
“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 next policy change is likely to be announced in the IOC session in February ahead of the Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics in Italy and comes after a presentation by Dr. Jane Thornton, the IOC’s medical and scientific director, last week, according to The Times.
Thornton’s presentation reportedly showed that there were physical advantages in men, including those taking treatments to reduce testosterone levels. A source told the newspaper that the presentation was “very scientific” and unemotional.
“The IOC Director of Health, Medicine and Science provided an update to IOC members last week during IOC commission meetings,” an IOC spokesperson told Pak Gazette Digital. “The working group continues its discussions on this issue and no decision has yet been made. More information will be provided in due course.”
Athletes with DSD (those who were raised female but were born with male traits) will be covered by the new policy, according to The Times. olympic boxing had two major controversies over athletes who previously failed gender tests.
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Algeria’s Imane Khelif and Taiwan’s Lin Yu-Ting won gold medals in their respective weight classes in the women’s division despite major uproar. Khelif has insisted they were women. Lin has not commented on the controversy since the Olympics ended.
World Boxing has since implemented mandatory sex testing for its competitors and Khelif will not be able to compete unless testing is completed.
