Bowing to pressure from President Donald Trump, the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee quietly changed its rules to prevent participation by transgender women athletes.
Buried on page five of its ‘Athlete Safety Policy’ is a paragraph stating, ‘The USOPC is committed to protecting opportunities for athletes participating in sport. The USOPC will continue to collaborate with various stakeholders with oversight responsibilities, e.g., IOC, IPC, NGBs, to ensure that women have a fair and safe competition environment consistent with Executive Order 14201 and the Ted Stevens Olympic & Amateur Sports Act.’
While that mentions nothing about transgender athletes, the executive order signed by Trump is designed to prevent transgender girls and women from participating in sports. In a letter sent Tuesday to the U.S. Olympic community, USOPC president Gene Sykes and CEO Sarah Hirshland said the change came after ‘a series of respectful and constructive conversations with federal officials’ following the executive order, which Trump signed in February.
‘As a federally chartered organization, we have an obligation to comply with federal expectations. The guidance we’ve received aligns with the Ted Stevens Act, reinforcing our mandated responsibility to promote athlete safety and competitive fairness,’ the letter read.
The letter also said individual national governing bodies are required to update their policies to align with the USOPC’s change, first reported by the New York Times.
Prior to this change, which was adopted last month, the USOPC had said decisions on transgender participation were to be made based on ‘fairness’ and should be up to each individual sport’s governing body.
‘In our world of elite sport, these elements of fairness demand that we reconcile athlete inclusion and athlete opportunity. The only way to do that for all genders, and specifically for those who are transgender, is to rely on real data and science-based evidence rather than ideology,’ according to a page on the USOPC’s website, which now carries a note at the top referring to the Athlete Safety Policy.
The United States has never had an openly transgender woman athlete compete at the Olympics. In fact, in the 20 years the IOC allowed the participation of transgender athletes, New Zealand weightlifter Laurel Hubbard is the only openly transgender woman to compete at an Olympic Games. Hubbard was knocked out in the opening round.
But inclusion of transgender athletes has become an increasingly charged political issue, despite a lack of science showing they have a competitive advantage. World Athletics and World Aquatics have both banned transgender women who have gone through male puberty from competing, and International Olympic Committee president Kirsty Coventry last month announced the creation of a task force to examine how to ‘protect the female category.’
The USOPC had said little about the issue. But with Los Angeles hosting the Summer Games in 2028, it has been careful not to say or do anything that could draw the ire of the Trump administration. While the USOPC is not funded by the government, as many other countries are, it does use government services. The Department of Homeland Security, for example, will help provide security for Los Angeles.