Updated guidelines released by International Olympic Committee for trans athletes

An update has been released from the International Olympic Committee (IOC) on its policy for trans athletes.

The update advises that individual sporting bodies should listen to scientific research, medical expertise, and human rights advocates to make inclusive decisions.

Published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine, the update is in response to a previous IOC statement suggesting there should be no presumption that trans women are at an automatic advantage in sports when competing against cisgender women.

The IOC has allowed each sport to determine its own policies regarding trans athletes, since March 2022, and this update does not change that.

IOC spokesperson, Mark Adams, has addressed the decision to allow individual sports to choose and develop their own policies. Adams has said that it was a divisive situation: “We accept there will be criticism, that’s inevitable I’m afraid. But we will do our best to balance fairness and inclusivity.”

While these new guidelines have been established to make the Olympics more inclusive, the IOC has recognised this does leave room for some sports organisations to choose to limit eligibility criteria for sex-segregated competition, in some cases to “maintain a fair and proportionate distribution of competitive advantages” among elite athletes.

The organisation announced back in November 2021 that it was removing both the testosterone level requirement and any invasive physical examinations under new guidelines - Framework on Fairness, Inclusion and Non-Discrimination on the Basis of Gender Identity and Sex Variations.

Previous to this change, the IOC's established testosterone level limits for female athletes, both trans and cisgender, meant numerous female athletes were disqualified from competing based on their testosterone levels. Following consultations with athletes, the organisation determined that the policy previously in place essentially required athletes to prove their gender.

The 2020 Olympics in Tokyo were the first games to allow openly trans and non-binary athletes to participate. Competitors included Laurel Hubbard, the New Zealand weightlifter, and Canadian footballer, Quinn, who won a gold medal in the 2020 women’s football final. Quinn also won a bronze medal with Team Canada in Rio in 2016 before they came out.

While Hubbard was praised across New Zealand's government and by many of her competitors, the athlete experienced dead-naming and general transphobia from the press, with much of the reporting lacking any trans representation.