USOPC Bars Transgender Women From Competing in Olympic Women’s Sports

The U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee has effectively barred transgender women from women’s sports, announced Monday with a quiet change on the USOPC’s website and confirmed in a letter sent to national sport governing bodies overseeing swimming, athletics and other sports it has an “obligation to comply” with an executive order issued by President Donald Trump.

The USOPC change is noted as a detail under “USOPC Athlete Safety Policy.” The executive order signed in February 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 Chief Executive Officer 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 change was first noted by The New York Times. Female eligibility is a key issue for the International Olympic Committee under its new president, Kirsty Coventry, who has signaled an effort to “protect the female category.” The IOC has allowed individual sports federations to set their own rules at the Olympics in the past.

A USA Swimming spokesman told The Associated Press it had been made aware of the USOPC’s change and was consulting with the committee to figure out what changes it needs to make. USA Fencing changed its policy effective August 1 to allow only “athletes who are of the female sex” in women’s competition and opening men’s events to “all athletes not eligible for the women’s category, including transgender women, transgender men, non-binary and intersex athletes and cisgender male athletes.”

The USOPC oversees around 50 national governing bodies, most of which play a role in everything from the grassroots to elite levels of their sports. The Associated Press noted that it raises the possibility that rules might need to be changed at local sports clubs to retain their memberships in the NGBs.

“By giving into the political demands, the USOPC is sacrificing the needs and safety of its own athletes,” said National Women’s Law Center President and CEO Fatima Goss Graves.