No decision yet on transgender athletes' Games eligibility, IOC says

BERLIN: The International Olympic Committee says it is still weighing universal rules for transgender athletes at the Games, as a growing number of sports bodies move to tighten eligibility criteria in a shift in sentiment that the IOC appears increasingly willing to get on board with.

The IOC, under new president Kirsty Coventry, did a U-turn in June, deciding to take the lead in setting eligibility criteria for Olympic participation of transgender athletes, having previously handed responsibility to the individual sports federations, leading to a confusing patchwork of different approaches.

In September, Coventry set up the 'Protection of the Female Category' working group, made up of experts as well as representatives of international federations, to look into how best to protect the female category in sports.

"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," an IOC spokesperson said on Monday.

"The working group is continuing its discussions on this topic, and no decisions have been taken yet. Further information will be provided in due course."

Before Coventry's decision in June, the IOC had long refused to apply any universal rule on transgender participation for the Games, instructing international federations in 2021 to come up with their own guidelines. Under current rules, still in force, transgender athletes are eligible to take part in the Olympics.

Only a handful of openly transgender athletes have taken part in the Games. New Zealand's Laurel Hubbard became the first openly transgender athlete to compete in a different gender category to that assigned at birth when the weightlifter took part in the Tokyo Olympics in 2021.