The International Olympic Committee (IOC), according to its new president Kirsty Coventry, will lead discussions on gender criteria for participation in sports. The IOC had previously urged sports federations to assess issues independently.
Coventry said on Thursday at a meeting in Lausanne that the IOC is “protecting the female category.” The former top swimmer from Zimbabwe announced the creation of a working group to lead these discussions.
“The IOC members have made it clear that we must first protect the female category,” said the 41-year-old Coventry. “We must ensure fairness and justice. We will do that with scientific evidence and in consultation with the sports federations.”
The IOC has long refused to apply universal rules to the participation of, among others, transgender people in the Olympic Games. In 2021, the governing body instructed international federations to develop their own guidelines.
At the recent Games in Paris, there was much debate about the participation of Lin Yu-Ting and Imane Khelif in the women’s boxing tournament. Both Olympic champions were disqualified from the World Championships in 2023. At the time, they did not meet the participation rules of the controversial boxing association IBA.
Coventry officially took over the IOC presidency this week from Thomas Bach. The two-time Olympic champion is the youngest, the first female, and the first African IOC president.