New Zealand to apply new IOC gender policy with 'respect and care'

SYDNEY, March 27 : The New Zealand Olympic Committee on Friday acknowledged the amount of work that went into developing the new Olympic policy on the protection of the female category in elite sport and said it would apply it with "respect and care".

  The policy, unveiled by the International Olympic Committee on Thursday, introduces gene testing which will effectively bar transgender athletes and some with Differences of Sexual Development (DSD) from competing in the female class at the Games. 

New Zealand weightlifter Laurel Hubbard, who at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021 became the first athlete to compete in a gender category different from that of their birth, would no longer be eligible.

"We recognise the extensive consultation and expert input that has informed this policy ... to bring greater clarity, consistency and fairness to eligibility for the female category at the Olympic level," NZOC Chief Executive Nicki Nicol said in a statement. 

"Our focus now is on understanding the policy fully and working carefully ... to ensure any next steps are approached with clear understanding, respect and care.

"This is a complex and sensitive area that directly affects people, not just policy. We are committed to showing Manaaki (care) by supporting athletes' wellbeing, privacy and dignity." 

The IOC's working group, whose research underpinned the policy, found scientific evidence pointed to a male performance advantage in all sports and of more than 100 per cent in events that involve explosive power such as weightlifting. 

Further, they found no "current evidence that testosterone suppression or gender-affirming hormone treatment eliminates this advantage".

Opponents of the policy dispute the science, have concerns around the mental