(LifeSiteNews) — There is more impetus to ban gender-confused men from women’s Olympic sports following the presentation of evidence that they retain physical advantages even after undergoing hormone therapy.
According to inside information shared with BBC Sport on Monday, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) is moving to ban biological men who claim to be women from competing in female sporting events.
Currently, the IOC does not impose universal eligibility rules but instead provides principles to guide individual international sports federations (IFs) in developing their own criteria.
However, in a presentation last week, IOC director of health, medicine and science Dr. Jane Thornton highlighted scientifically proven permanent physical advantages from male puberty that hormone therapy may not fully mitigate.
Following the meeting, IOC insiders suggested that the commission is planning a universal ban on biological men competing in women’s categories. The ban would take effect in 2026, ahead of the 2026 Winter Olympics and 2028 Los Angeles Games.
The IOC responded to the news by saying, “An update was given by the IOC’s director of health, medicine and science to the IOC members last week during the IOC commission meetings. The working group is continuing its discussions on this topic and no decisions have been taken yet.”
This potential policy aligns with broader trends, including U.S. President Donald Trump’s February 2025 executive order banning transgender women from women’s sports in American school and Olympic contexts.
READ: Students can’t be forced to use transgender, ‘preferred’ pronouns, court rules
In July, the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee complied with President Donald Trump’s executive order to ban men from women’s sports.
There have been numerous high-profile examples in recent years of men winning women’s competitions, and research affirms that physiology gives males distinct athletic advantages that cannot be fully negated by hormone suppression.
Indeed, a recent study published in Sports Medicine found that a year of “transgender” hormone drugs results in “very modest changes” in the inherent strength advantages of men.
“For some sports, like equestrian, men and women compete against each other, so it’s not high on their topics of conversations,” IOC president Kirsty Coventry told The Athletic in March during the IOC presidential campaign.
“But, in terms of where we go from here, the IOC needs to take a leading role,” she continued.
“I don’t think we need to redo all the work that’s been done — we can learn from the international federations and set up a task force that will look at this constantly and consistently,” Coventry explained. “The overarching principle must be to protect the female category.”
In the USA since the 1980s, more than 1,941 gold medals in female events that would have gone to female athletes have instead been claimed by men identifying as “trans women.” More than $493,173 in prize money across more than 10,067 amateur and professional events for women have also gone to men, according to data compiled by He Cheated and reviewed by Concerned Women for America.
RELATED: 24 philosophers urge Supreme Court to protect girls’ sports from ‘transgender’ males
