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If allowing transgender athletes to compete in women’s sports was already a key debate among Olympic leaders before the president of the United States, Donald Trump, signed an executive order that presses them before the 2028 summer games in Los Angeles .
In a speech before signing the document on Wednesday, Trump said he wants the International Olympic Committee to change everything “to have to do with this absolutely ridiculous issue.”
The outgoing president of the IOC, Thomas Bach, who had a tense meeting with Trump during his first mandate in the White House, has avoided adopting a strong position on the subject, but many of the seven candidates who run to replace it this year have it this year made.
Sebastian Coe, who runs the world athletic, the global body governing athletics, seemed to support Trump’s position on his X account.
“Preserving the integrity of the competition in the women’s category is a fundamental principle of the sport of athletics and, as we know, everything begins in schools,” Coe said, a two -time Olympic champion of 1,500 meters from Great Britain. “Establishing clear and unequivocal policies is a first critical step.”
Currently, the IOC only advises to the sports governing bodies that make the final decisions about eligibility. The IOC has allowed transgender athletes to participate in the Olympic Games since 2004, but it was not until 2021 that the first transgender athletes competed openly.
Three main Olympic sports: athletics, swimming and cycling, now athletes that went through male puberty competing in international female events.
The choice of IOC to replace Bach, whose 12 -year limit is reached and leaves in June, is March 20 at a meeting in Greece. Some of the candidates have made it clear where they are in transgender participation.
“In World Athletics we have developed clear and consulted policies about female eligibility,” COE wrote in his manifesto aimed at the IOC voters. “I will advocate for clear and science policies that safeguard the female category.”
Another main contender to replace Bach, Juan Antonio Samaranch Jr., has also urged COI to establish clear guidelines on the subject.
“The IOC has a fundamental duty to safeguard women’s sport through the adoption of a policy to maintain unequivocal distinctions between the categories of men and women,” Samaranch wrote in December.
‘Marcos informed in science’ about ideology
In his electoral manifesto, the head of the Ski Federation, Johan Eliasch, said he wants the IOC to establish the rules “guided by biological facts, not cultural tendencies.”
“Regardless of the current levels of testosterone, exposure to puberty creates differences in sex in height, weight, etc., can provide a sporting advantage,” Eliasch said, urging “Marcos informed in science” about ideology.
The International Cycling Union followed the transgender policy of Aquatics and Athletics in July 2023, although its president David Lappartient was more cautious in his Olympic manifesto. He suggested that the IOC should guide Olympic sports bodies with common principles, while “we must accept that the answer can vary from one sport to another.”
The only woman among the seven COI candidates, twice a gold gold medalist Kirsty Coventry, did not directly address the gender problem in her manifesto, writing instead of “strengthening women’s sports protecting women’s athletes.”
But in an interview with the BBC two weeks ago, he said that it is the duty of the IOC to guarantee equal opportunities and justice.
“I don’t think we can do that based on medical and scientific research that I have seen if we add or allow transgender women to compete in the women’s category at this time,” he said. “It is very clear that transgender women are more capable in the female category and can remove the opportunities that should be the same for women.”
Questioned last week at an event lodged in the IOC for candidates, Coventry, Zimbabwe Sports Minister, said: “Along the way, we will learn lessons, and we will strengthen and we will make better rules and regulations. “
The other two candidates, the Feisal Prince to Hussein de Jordan and the president of the Gymnastics Federation, Morinari Watanabe, did not approach the transgender athletes in their documents, although the Feisal Prince emphasized gender equality and equal opportunities.
The next leader of the IOC must work with Trump
The next leader of the IOC will need a functional working relationship with the Trump administration before the Los Angeles Olympic Games.
Trump said he had ordered the Secretary of National Security Kristi Noem “to deny each and every one of the visa requests made by men trying fraudulently to the United States while identifying themselves as athletes.”
In the campaign campaign, Trump frequently doubted two Olympic boxers as men and said that his ability to participate in Paris Games was “degrading for women” despite the fact that both Imane Khelif de Algeria and Lin Yu-Ting de Taiwan identify as women.
Bach, the outgoing president of the IOC, said Thursday that he was not familiar with Trump’s comments the night before.
“I am not aware of these comments. Let’s see,” Bach said in Milan in an event to mark a year until the 2026 winter Olympic Games are opened.
Later on Thursday, the IOC responded to a request for comments on the subject, saying: “Working with the respective international sports federations, the IOC will continue to explain and discuss the various issues with the relevant authorities.”
