The International Olympic Committee is reviewing eligibility rules for women’s events and weighing tighter, science‑based criteria, but says no decision has been made amid reports of a potential ban to be considered ahead of the Milan‑Cortina 2026 Winter Games.
The IOC is examining new eligibility rules for the female category following an internal scientific review, but stressed on November 10 that “no decisions have been taken yet.” Reports in The Times, echoed by other outlets, suggested a potential blanket ban on athletes born male competing in the women’s category could be tabled as early as 2026; an IOC spokesperson said the working group is continuing its deliberations and will provide further information “in due course.”
Under IOC President Kirsty Coventry, who took office in June 2025, a Protection of the Female Category working group was established to draft clearer, sport‑specific rules. Last week in Lausanne, Dr. Jane Thornton, the IOC’s Director of Health, Medicine and Science and a former Canadian Olympic rower, briefed members on preliminary findings from the evidence review.
The IOC’s approach to eligibility has evolved over the past decade. A 2015 IOC consensus allowed transgender women to compete in the female category if total testosterone remained below 10 nmol/L for at least 12 months. In 2021, the IOC replaced that guidance with a framework built on 10 principles — including fairness, inclusion and “no presumption of advantage” — and delegated eligibility decisions to international federations with an evidence‑based, sport‑by‑sport approach.
Those federations have since diverged. World Aquatics in 2022 restricted the women’s category to athletes who did not experience male puberty (with work on an “open” category), and World Athletics in 2023 barred transgender women who went through male puberty from female world‑ranking events while tightening rules for athletes with differences of sex development. Football policies vary by jurisdiction: FIFA has been reviewing its rules, while England’s Football Association and Scotland’s FA introduced national bans on transgender women in 2025.
The debate intensified at Paris 2024 after Algeria’s Imane Khelif (women’s welterweight, 66kg) and Taiwan’s Lin Yu‑ting (women’s featherweight, 57kg) won Olympic boxing gold. Both had been disqualified by the International Boxing Association (IBA) at the 2023 world championships after what the IBA described as gender‑eligibility testing; the IOC later called the IBA’s late‑stage testing “illegitimate” and cleared both athletes to compete under Olympic event rules, citing their documentation and long‑standing participation in women’s boxing. The IBA has asserted its rules define female eligibility by XX chromosomes and permit targeted gender testing; separately, the new Olympic‑aligned governing body, World Boxing, introduced mandatory genetic testing for women’s events in 2025, moves that remain contested and subject to legal challenge.
Advocates of tighter IOC policy point to research indicating retained advantages from male puberty despite testosterone suppression. Others argue there is no inherent advantage across contexts and warn against policies that could exclude small numbers of athletes or prompt invasive testing. The IOC says the working group will balance fairness, inclusion, athlete welfare and legal robustness in any new framework.
Timing remains fluid. Some reports suggest the IOC could finalize and announce new criteria ahead of or around the Milan‑Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics; the IOC has confirmed only that discussions are ongoing and that updates will follow once the working group completes its review.
