The International Olympic Committee (IOC) is preparing [1] to implement a policy that would prohibit men identifying as women from competing in female events, according to a report published Monday by The Times.
The decision, expected to be announced in February, follows a comprehensive internal review of biological and scientific data on athletic advantages retained by males even after hormone suppression.
OLYMPIC OVERHAUL: The International Olympic Committee is set to bar transgender athletes from competing against biological women, reports say — a sweeping move to “protect the female category” and ensure fairness.
“It was very clear from the members that we have to protect the… pic.twitter.com/kdH6qwfhJG [2]
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The proposal gained momentum after controversy during the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris, when two boxers — Algeria’s Imane Khelif and Taiwan’s Lin Yu-Ting — won gold medals despite prior disqualifications from the 2023 Women’s World Boxing Championships.
The International Boxing Association (IBA) had removed both athletes from competition for being “found to have competitive advantages over other female competitors.”
The International Olympic Committee FINALLY gets it right!
Men pretending to be women will now be BANNED from future women’s events, after a biological man PUMMELED female boxers in 2024.
This should’ve NEVER been allowed! pic.twitter.com/wqoVkU8Ilv [4]
— Erika Donalds (@ErikaDonalds) November 10, 2025 [5]
In response to questions about the pending rule, the IOC confirmed that the organization is continuing to evaluate the matter.
“The work on this continues,” an IOC spokesperson said Monday, noting that “no official decision has been taken yet.”
Until now, the IOC has allowed individual sports federations to set their own eligibility standards for transgender athletes.
That decentralized approach has led to inconsistent rules across sports, but IOC President Kirsty Coventry indicated earlier this year that the organization intends to establish a universal policy to “protect the female category.”
“We understand that there’ll be differences depending on the sport … but it was very clear from the members that we have to protect the female category, first and foremost to ensure fairness,” Coventry said in June.
“But we need to do that with a scientific approach and the inclusion of the international federations who have already done a lot of work in this area.”
According to The Times, the IOC’s medical and scientific director, Jane Thornton, presented findings to committee members showing that biological males retain physical advantages — including bone density and muscle mass — even after undergoing testosterone suppression treatment. One source familiar with the briefing described it as “a very scientific, factual, and unemotional presentation which quite clearly laid out the evidence.”
Another IOC insider told the outlet that the presentation was met with strong support from committee members.
The IOC’s director of Health, Medicine, and Science provided an update last week during an internal commission meeting, Reuters reported.
The IOC confirmed that discussions remain ongoing but did not deny that a formal decision could come as early as February, ahead of the 2026 Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics in Italy.
BREAKING: The International Olympic Committee is moving towards a blanket ban on transgender women from women’s sport, Sky News understands.
Sky’s @RobHarris [6] has the latest
Full story: https://t.co/XtmNXjZAum [7]
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The upcoming policy announcement would mark the IOC’s first comprehensive stance on transgender participation in women’s sports.
It also reflects growing concern from athletes, federations, and national committees about fairness and competitive integrity in female categories.
Debate over transgender inclusion in women’s events intensified after the Paris Games. Critics pointed to the victories of Khelif and Lin Yu-Ting as examples of how current rules disadvantage biological women.
Supporters of the rule change argue that scientific evidence overwhelmingly shows that men retain performance advantages in speed, strength, and endurance, even after hormonal treatments.
The issue also resurfaced in the United States, where the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee announced in July that male athletes identifying as female would no longer be permitted to compete in women’s categories for Team USA.
That policy followed President Donald Trump’s February executive order titled “Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports,” which prohibits entities receiving federal funds from allowing male athletes to compete in female sports categories.
The order mandates that any organization violating those terms risks losing federal funding.
The IOC has not publicly commented on when its new rules will be finalized, though sources told The Times that the policy framework is largely complete and awaiting final approval.
The decision, if confirmed, would represent one of the most significant changes to Olympic eligibility in recent decades and could serve as a global model for other athletic organizations facing similar controversies.