Whether it is to allow transgender athletes to compete in female sports was already a key debate among the Olympic leaders before the American president Donald Trump signed a decree which exerts them before the summer games of 2028 in Los Angeles.
In a speech before signing the document on Wednesday, Trump said he wanted the International Olympic Committee to change everything “to have to do with this absolutely ridiculous subject”.
The outgoing president of the IOC, Thomas Bach, who had a tense meeting with Trump during his first mandate in the White House, avoided taking a strong position on the subject, but many of the seven candidates who arise to replace him This year.
Sebastian Coe, who directs World Athletics, the world organization governing athletics, seemed to support Trump’s position on his X account.
“The preservation of the integrity of competition in the female category is a fundamental principle of athletics sport and, as we know, it all starts in schools,” said Coe, twice Olympic champion of 1,500 meters from Great Britain. “The establishment of clear and unambiguous policies is a first critical step.”
Currently, the IOC simply advises sports guidelines that make final decisions on eligibility. The IOC allowed Transgender athletes to participate in the Olympic Games since 2004, but it was not until 2021 that the first openly transgender athletes competed.
The election of the IOC to replace Bach, whose limit of 12 years is reached and goes in June, is March 20 at a meeting in Greece. Some candidates have clearly indicated where they are held on the participation of transgenderness.
“In World Athletics, we have developed clear policies and consulted on the eligibility for women,” Coe wrote in his manifesto intended for CIO voters. “I will plead for clear policies based on science that protect the female category.”
Another leading competitor to replace Bach, Juan Antonio Samaranch Jr., also urged the IOC to define clear guidelines on the issue.
“The IOC has the fundamental duty to protect female sport by adopting a policy to maintain unambiguous distinctions between male and women categories,” Samaranch wrote in December.
“Science Informed Managers” on ideology
In his electoral manifesto, the head of the ski federation, Johan Eliasch, said that he wanted the CIO to establish the rules “guided by biological facts, not cultural trends”.
“Regardless of current testosterone levels, exposure to puberty creates size differences, weight, etc.
The international cycling union followed the transgender policy of aquatic and athletics in July 2023, although its president David Lappartient was more prudent in his Olympic manifesto. He suggested that the IOC should guide Olympic sports organizations with common principles while “we must accept that the answer can vary from sport to sport”.
The only woman among the seven candidates in the IOC, twice the Olympic Swimming gold medalist, Kirsty Coventry, did not directly address the question of gender in her manifesto, writing instead of “strengthening female sports by protecting the female athletes “.
But in an interview with the BBC two weeks ago, she said that it was the duty of the IOC to ensure equal opportunities and equity.
Questioned last week at an event hosted by the CIC for candidates, Coventry – The Minister of Sports of Zimbabwe – said: “Along the road, we will learn from lessons, and we will become stronger and we Let’s go better rules and regulations of better rules and regulations.
The other two candidates – Prince Feisal Al Hussein of Jordan and the president of the Federation of Gymnastics Morinari Watanabe – did not address transgender athletes in their documents, although Prince Feisal stressed gender equality and the equality of opportunities.
The next IOC chief must work with Trump
The next CIO chief will need a functional working relationship with the Trump administration before the Los Angeles Olympic Games.
Trump said he had ordered Kristi Noem “internal security secretary to deny all visa requests presented by men who try to fraudulently penetrate in the United States while identifying themselves as female athletes”.
Bach, the outgoing president of the IOC, said on Thursday that he did not know Trump’s comments the previous night.
“I am not aware of these comments. Let’s see,” said Bach in Milan at an event to mark a year before the 2026 winter Olympics.
Later Thursday, the IOC responded to a request for comments on the issue, saying: “Working with the respective international sports federations, the IOC will continue to explain and discuss the various subjects with the competent authorities.”
