IOC Officially Bans Biological Males From Women's Olympic Events

The International Olympic Committee has officially made it clear that women's Olympic sports will now be reserved for biological females.

In a major policy shift announced Thursday morning, the IOC approved a new "Policy on the Protection of the Female (Women's) Category in Olympic Sport," which will take effect beginning with the 2028 Los Angeles Games.

The new rules establish a standardized sex-testing process across all Olympic sports.

"Male sex provides a performance advantage in all sports and events that rely on strength, power and endurance," the IOC's announcement reads. "To ensure fairness, and to protect safety, particularly in contact sports, eligibility should therefore be based on biological sex."

The Olympic Rings sit on display outside the International Olympic Committee (IOC) Headquarters in Lausanne, Switzerland.

(Photo by David Ramos/Getty Images)

Under the policy, "eligibility for the female category is to be determined in the first instance by SRY gene screening to detect the absence or presence of the SRY gene."

The IOC added that this screening can be done through "saliva, cheek swab or blood sample" and described the method as "unintrusive compared to other possible methods."

Athletes who test negative for the gene will only need to be screened once.

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The policy also makes clear that, outside of rare exceptions, athletes who test positive will not be eligible for women's events.

"With the rare exception of athletes with a diagnosis of Complete Androgen Insensitivity Syndrome (CAIS)… no athlete with an SRY-positive screen is eligible for competition in the female category at an IOC event."

IOC President Kirsty Coventry said the decision was rooted in both fairness and safety.

"As a former athlete, I passionately believe in the rights of all Olympians to take part in fair competition," Coventry said. "At the Olympic Games, even the smallest margins can be the difference between victory and defeat. So, it is 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."

The move follows months of review and mounting pressure on the IOC to adopt a clear, enforceable standard after years of inconsistent guidance.

Notably, several international governing bodies — including track and field, swimming and boxing — had already adopted sex-based eligibility rules and testing protocols in recent years. But Thursday's announcement ensures those standards will now apply across the board at the Olympic level, creating a uniform rule for all female events.

The IOC emphasized that the policy is not retroactive and will only apply beginning with LA28.

It also stressed that athletes who are not eligible for the female category "continue to be included in all other classifications for which they qualify," including male and open divisions.

After years of debate, legal battles and controversies, the Olympics has finally drawn a clear line — one based, as the IOC put it, on science and competitive fairness.