U.S. Olympic officials ban transgender women from women's events - ESPN

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — The U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee has effectively barred transgender women from competing in women's sports, telling the federations overseeing swimming, athletics and other sports it has an «obligation to comply» with an executive order previously issued by President Donald Trump.

The change, announced Monday with a quiet update on the USOPC's website and confirmed in a letter sent to national sport governing bodies, follows a similar step taken by the NCAA earlier this year.

The USOPC change is noted obliquely as a detail under «USOPC Athlete Safety Policy» and reference's Trump's executive order, «Keeping Men Out of Women's Sports,» signed in February. That order, among other things, threatens to «rescind all funds» from organizations that allow transgender athlete participation in women's sports.

U.S Olympic officials told the national governing bodies they will need to follow suit, adding that «the USOPC has engaged in a series of respectful and constructive conversations with federal officials» since Trump signed the order.

«As a federally chartered organization, we have an obligation to comply with federal expectations,» USOPC CEO Sarah Hirshland and president Gene Sykes wrote in a letter. «Our revised policy emphasizes the importance of ensuring fair and safe competition environments for women. All National Governing Bodies are required to update their applicable policies in alignment.»

The nationwide battle over transgender girls and women in sports has played out at both the state and federal levels as Republicans portray the issue as a fight for athletic fairness. More than two dozen states have enacted laws barring transgender women and girls from participating in certain