LAUSANNE, Switzerland—In a landmark policy reversal, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) announced Thursday the reinstatement of mandatory biological gender verification for female category events, effectively excluding transgender women and athletes with Differences in Sexual Development (DSD) from Olympic women’s competitions starting with the 2028 Los Angeles Games.
The new framework replaces the 2021 policy that delegated eligibility determinations to individual sports federations, establishing instead a universal standard across all Olympic sports. The eligibility protocol will utilize a one-time SRY gene screening—a test that identifies male chromosomal material—administered through saliva, cheek swab, or blood samples.
IOC President Kirsty Coventry defended the scientifically-grounded policy, stating, “At the Olympic Games, even the smallest margins can determine victory or defeat. It would be fundamentally unfair and potentially unsafe for biological males to compete in the female category.”
This decisive shift follows the gender controversy that emerged during the women’s boxing competition at the Paris 2024 Olympics, involving Algerian boxer Imane Khelif and Taiwan’s Lin Yu-ting. Both athletes—previously excluded from the 2023 International Boxing Association World Championships due to failed eligibility tests—were permitted to compete in Paris by the IOC, which criticized the IBA’s decision as “sudden and arbitrary.” Both athletes ultimately won gold medals.
The reintroduction of gender testing marks a return to practices abandoned after the 1996 Atlanta Olympics following widespread criticism from the scientific community. The policy now establishes a clear biological boundary for female competition, prioritizing competitive fairness and safety according to the IOC’s medical advisors.
