Transgender ladies will not be eligible to compete for the USA within the Olympic or Paralympic Video games in ladies’s classes, after a current coverage change from the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee (USOPC).
The committee cited President Donald Trump’s February government order, titled “Protecting Males Out of Girls’s Sports activities,” which mandates rapid enforcement, together with towards colleges and athletic associations that “deny ladies single-sex sports activities and single-sex locker rooms,” in line with the doc, and directs state attorneys basic to establish greatest practices for imposing the mandate.
In a memo to the Group USA group on Tuesday, obtained by ABC Information, USOPC President Gene Sykes and CEO Sarah Hirshland referenced Trump’s government order and mentioned, “As a federally chartered group, we now have an obligation to adjust to federal expectations.”
The USOPC is liable for supporting, coming into and overseeing U.S. groups within the Olympic and Paralympic Video games in addition to sporting occasions for all ages, from youth to masters’ competitions.
In an replace to its athlete security coverage, with out utilizing the phrase transgender by title, the USOPC mentioned its revised coverage “emphasizes the significance of making certain honest and protected competitors environments for girls.”
Olympic rings are pictured exterior the Worldwide Olympic Committee (IOC) forward of newly elected President Kirsty Coventry first Government Board assembly on the Olympic Home in Lausanne, Switzerland, June 25, 2025.
Denis Balibouse/Reuters, FILE
“The USOPC is dedicated to defending alternatives for athletes taking part in sport. The USOPC will proceed to collaborate with numerous stakeholders with oversight duties, e.g., IOC, IPC, NGBs, to make sure that ladies have a good and protected competitors surroundings in step with Government Order 14201 and the Ted Stevens Olympic & Novice Sports activities Act,” the revised coverage says on the USOPC web site.
The Ted Stevens Olympic & Novice Sports activities Act establishes a course of for dealing with eligibility disputes for every Olympic sport and participation in newbie athletic competitions. It was sponsored by Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens and adopted in 1998.
The revised USOPC coverage additionally would not define how the ban will work, and if the identical ruling applies to males’s sports activities.
ABC Information has reached out to the USOPC for clarification and didn’t instantly hear again.
Following the revised coverage, USA Fencing up to date its gender eligibility pointers, which can take impact on Aug. 1. Transgender ladies, nonbinary athletes, transgender males and intersex athletes will compete solely in males’s competitions, in line with the coverage.