2028 LA Olympics: Transgender Athletes Banned from Women’s Events – What You Need to Know

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Starting with the 2028 Los Angeles (LA) Olympics, transgender athletes will be banned from competing in women’s events.

On the 26th (local time), the International Olympic Committee’s Executive Board approved a new policy designed to protect women’s competitions.

Under the rule, eligibility for women’s events—both individual and team—at all IOC-sanctioned competitions, including the Olympics, will be determined by a single SRY gene test. The SRY gene, found on the Y chromosome, drives male sexual development; the test is intended to medically verify whether an athlete underwent male pubertal development. This restores sex testing at the Olympics for the first time since the 1996 Atlanta Games, 32 years ago.

Athletes who test negative for the SRY gene will permanently meet the eligibility criteria for women’s competition. Those who test positive will be barred from women’s events at IOC-organized competitions, except in rare cases where an athlete has a diagnosed difference of sex development (DSD). Athletes who test positive may instead compete in men’s events, fill male positions on mixed teams, or participate in open events that do not classify competitors by sex.

The rule will take effect at the 2028 LA Games. It will not be applied retroactively to earlier competitions and does not cover amateur or recreational sports programs.

The IOC said the move is necessary to safeguard fairness, safety and integrity in women’s sports. IOC chair Kirsty Coventry said, \”At the Olympic level, very small differences in ability can decide outcomes. It is clear that allowing biologically male athletes to compete in women’s events is unfair, and in some sports it directly raises safety concerns for athletes.\”

The IOC’s decision also mirrors recent shifts in U.S. sports policy as the host nation for the 2028 Games. Last February, President Donald Trump issued an executive order directing that males be excluded from women’s sports, and the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee (USOPC) subsequently announced a ban on transgender athletes competing in women’s domestic competitions.