The International Olympic Committee is barring male athletes from competing against women at the Olympics, beginning with the 2028 Summer Games set to take place in Los Angeles.
IOC president Kirsty Coventry, a decorated former Olympic swimmer from Zimbabwe, announced the ban Thursday after promising to protect the integrity of women’s sports leading up to her election.
“The policy that we have announced is based on science and it has been led by medical experts with the best interest 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,” Coventry said in a video.
“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. In addition, in some sports, it would simply not be safe,” she added.
The announcement marks the culmination of the IOC administration’s review of its approach to the female athletic category starting in September 2024. The IOC launched a working group in September 2025 to examine the scientific evidence, medical developments, and legal changes that had taken place since 2021 in order to create a policy for protecting female athletes. Experts in sports science, endocrinology, transgender medicine, women’s health, and other relevant fields participated in the working group.
Prior to the new policy, the IOC allowed the governing body of each individual sport to set their own standards for sex segregation. Three major sports — track and field, swimming, and cycling — barred athletes who had undergone male puberty from competing in the female category.
Women will be required to take a one-time genetic test in order to be eligible to compete. The policy is not retroactive and it will not apply to recreational programs.
Under the policy, athletes like two-time Olympic champion runner Caster Semenya — who has a condition known as differences in sex development, or DSD, that leads to higher than normal testosterone levels — will also be barred from competing against women. Algerian boxer Imane Khelif who competed in the female division at the 2024 Paris Olympics, insisting that he was female before admitting recently that he is in fact male.
Asked about Khelif’s case, former IOC President Thomas Bach argued that the traditional chromosomal view of sex is outdated.
“It is not as easy as some may, in this culture war, may now want to portray it, that the XX or the XY is the clear distinction between the men and women. This is scientifically not true anymore,” Bach said.
The first woman and first African Olympic president, Coventry began her tenure overseeing the 2026 Milan-Cortina winter Olympics in February, marking the 25th installment of the winter games.
The IOC’s decision reflects the widespread backlash to men competing in women’s sports in the U.S. and elsewhere. Worldwide, women athletes have lost hundreds of medals to male competitors across 29 different sports. Men competing in women’s sports can present safety risks depending on the nature of the competition, given the significant strength advantage men possess.
Over two thirds of U.S. adults believe athletes identifying as transgender should compete on sports teams matching their sex, according to Gallup polling. At the beginning of his term, President Trump signed an executive order barring men from competing in women’s sports, a directive the U.S. Olympic Committee began complying with in July.
The Trump administration celebrate the IOC’s decision to ban males from competing against females, taking credit for the move.
“You cannot change your sex. President Trump’s Executive Order protecting women’s sports made this happen!” said White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt.
Trump’s order came after he made the transgender issue an important one to his presidential campaign. Many observers believe Trump’s most effective campaign ad was a quick spot accusing then-Vice President Kamala Harris of prioritizing people whose preferred pronouns are “they/them” over ordinary Americans.
James Lynch is a news writer for National Review. He previously was a reporter for the Daily Caller. He is a graduate of the University of Notre Dame and based in the Washington, D.C. area.
Reprinted with Permission from The National Review – By James Lynch
The opinions expressed by columnists are their own and do not necessarily represent the views of AMAC or AMAC Action.
Back to Genesis… God created male and female.
Such a revelation that these loons discovered the difference between men and women, maybe they can explain it to the rest of the nutjobs in position who cannot figure out basic biology. It’s a wonder these people figured out a way to pro-create, given their gender confusion.
It has taken an unnecessarily enormous amount of time for common sense to have been insinuated into this loathsome conversation. “We, the people…” have spent too much valuable time ignoring the social alterations of our societies being deliberately imposed by the hooliganism of “Progressives” overloaded with the dumbest ideas to redesign relationships between individuals in community settings There is always too much tolerance by average citizens of idiotic propositions intended to be imposed by educated bottom-feeders.
It is amazing what a little bit of common sense can do , took only how long? I hope that will serve as a guide line right across the board. no more sex rearranging , you are what you were born with, your head is a different field.
When the left takes over again (and they will unless ALL Republican and Independent voters turn out in the midterms) they’ll reverse this. Just in time for the summer games. What is crazy is that this even has to be a policy! Transgender people can start their own games.
It is about time these idiots pulled their head out of you know what. Thank goodness!
I am shocked! Just because I didn’t think the I.O.C. had the guts to actually do this. It’s about time!
If YOU BELIEVE that there are NO differences between MEN and WOMEN, then why not ABOLISH the NBA and the WNBA?
Have LeBron James COMPETE on the SAME basketball court with Caitlyn Clark.
I know WHO I would place my MONEY on.
Would YOU?
Finally there are COMMON SENSE ADULTS on the IOC board.
Furthermore, ANYONE who thinks thinks a man can give birth to a baby, or if he takes boob-growing drugs, voice and walking lessons, masters putting on makeup, wears stylish wigs, or goes and sees Doctor Chop Chop, is as mentally sick as the males trying to become something they will NEVER EVER BE ABLE TO BECOME. NO MATTER HOW MUCH THEY BELIEVE IT OR WANT IT.
A true mental illness. Sad indeed.
Welllll, duhhhhh.
No kidding- what took so long?
How ridiculous. I mean they actually have to “ban” fake women from competing in “real” women’s sports!
The IOC is a big joke! Common sense was abandoned when they allowed men to compete in women’s sports. God is in control!
this headline should be on all news channels, newspapers, and headlines in colleges and just everywhere!! thank you all for what you have done in this very important issue.
Heidi
Me thinks Mr T Bach’s head is still screwed on Backwards. He states “it is not as easy as some may (in this culture) want to portray it”
Why was, or is, a lame thinker like this the head of anything ? Thinking like this man is how rules got so distorted. No common sense. He will flip on a dime first chance.
what took so f***ing long?
It’s about time!!!
riley gaines is more excited about the ruling than being a wife and mother, only makeup gets her more excited
riley gaines is very happy and the only thing she likes more than being anti trans is wearing excessive amounts of makeup