After much controversy in the last few years, the elite levels of sports may be making a return to sanity.

In a major win for women's sports, the International Olympic Committee issued a new policy on Thursday effectively banning trans-identifying athletes from competing in the category that aligns with their gender identity, though not from competing in the category that aligns with their biology.

'The IOC determined that a sex-based eligibility rule is necessary and adequate to the attainment of the IOC's goals for competition at IOC Events.'

The IOC echoed two conclusions that many conservative activists have been saying for years: "Male sex ... confers performance advantage in all sports and events that rely on strength, power, and/or endurance," and "to protect fairness in such sports and events, as well as safety particularly in contact sports (e.g. combat, collision, projectile sports), it is necessary and adequate to base eligibility for competition on biological sex."

This new policy comes after the IOC's "broad-based review" of the IOC's framework for women's sports. The review was launched in September 2024 and concluded this month.

Photo by Oliver Contreras / AFP via Getty Images

The policy, which replaces any and all previous policies that allowed trans-identifying athletes to compete based on their gender identity rather than their biological sex, is aligned with President Trump's February 5, 2025, executive order, "Keeping Men Out of Women's Sports."

The IOC also acknowledged that this announcement would be upsetting to trans-identifying athletes and activists but that they intend to move forward with the policy: "The IOC recognises that XY athletes who identify as women and who want the opportunity to compete at IOC Events according to their legal sex or gender identity may disagree with this policy. However, after a thorough scientific review and consultations with constituents of the Olympic Movement, the IOC determined that a sex-based eligibility rule is necessary and adequate to the attainment of the IOC's goals for competition at IOC Events."

As expected, the outrage machine was not far behind the announcement.

CNN's headline on social media read: "Transgender women athletes are banned from competing in the Olympics following new IOC guidelines," despite there being no mention of banning anyone from competing.

Jennifer Sey, the CEO of XX-XY Athletes, called out CNN for the misleading headline and summarized the actual policy of the IOC: "No one is banned. Stop lying. Men can compete in men's."

Riley Gaines likewise issued a clarification for anyone misled by the headlines: "'Trans women' haven't been banned from women's sports. Men have. Hope this helps!"

The IOC made clear that this policy is "not retroactive" and will be applicable for the first time at the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.

Blaze News reached out to XX-XY Athletes and CNN for comment but did not immediately receive a response.

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'Kick their a**!' Republican leadership touts key protections against men in women's sports

During a closed-door lunch Wednesday, House Republican leadership touted Congress' efforts to protect women from trans-identifying male athletes.

Majority Whip Tom Emmer (R-Minn.) hosted Republican colleagues, female athletes, and advocates to highlight the progress being made to keep men out of women's sports. During the lunch, Emmer shared the advice he would give his own daughter if she were to compete with a boy.

'My life changed completely in an instant.'

"I got seven kids — six boys and one daughter," Emmer said. "And this may be inappropriate, but I'm going to say the way I believe. I not only taught my daughter to compete with boys, I taught her to kick their ass!"

"But I just look at my daughter, and I asked myself, what parent would not stand up and say this is wrong?"

Courtesy of Rep. Emmer's office

Republican Rep. Kat Cammack of Florida, who co-hosted the lunch, shared the pushback she experienced trying to advocate for female athletes.

"I was the chair of the bipartisan women's caucus, and we were taking a vote on initiatives that we were going to champion as Republicans and Democrats. In the final five minutes of the meeting, I said, 'Hey, we're missing a key issue here. I think we should take a position as women on protecting women's sports.'"

"You would not believe the conversation that ensued," Cammack said. "I had more women shouting me down, telling me how hateful we were for even mentioning this and that we were going to be excluding people. I knew in that moment that we had to do something."

In the aftermath, Cammack founded the Republican Women's Caucus, where she continued to stand for women's sports.

Courtesy of Rep. Emmer's office

Several female athletes were also present, all of whom had their own experience playing against male athletes who claimed to be women.

One athlete in attendance was Payton McNabb, a former girls' volleyball player whose life was turned around because the adults around her refused to stand up for the young women on her team. McNabb was severely injured in 2022 when her high school volleyball team was forced to compete against a male athlete who slammed the ball in her face and knocked her unconscious.

"I went to the doctor, and they explained how I had a concussion, a brain bleed, and permanent whiplash," McNabb said. "All this could have been completely avoided from the start, and I could have been living my normal life playing college volleyball. But all of that got taken away because of this game, and I never played volleyball again."

"I couldn't drive for several months. I went from being top three in my class to needing extra time on tests and accommodations in school. ... My life changed completely in an instant. It was really hard on me — not only on me, but on my family who had to watch me suffer. ... That's why it's been so important to share my story across the country."

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Olympics committee expected to reverse course on men in women's sports

The International Olympic Committee is set to make some significant changes to its rules about men participating in women's sports categories.

According to the Times, the IOC will likely announce a ban on so-called "transgender women" competing in female sports.

'We have to do that to ensure fairness. And we have to do it with scientific approach.'

This policy change comes after a "science-based" study led by Dr. Jane Thornton showed that men have significant physical advantages over biological women.

“It was a very scientific, factual, and unemotional presentation which quite clearly laid out the evidence,” one source told the Times.

Photo by Li Jing/Xinhua via Getty Images

Last year, the committee faced heated controversy after Algerian trans-identifying boxer Imane Khelif beat a woman to tears in the ring. A report later revealed a medical document showing that Khelif, who took home the gold medal after dominating the 66 kg women's competition, has XY chromosomes.

The IOC's shift in opinion on the issue of trans-identifying athletes follows a change in leadership in June of this year. The new president of the IOC, Kirsty Coventry, indicated that there was "overwhelming support" for changing the rules to "protect the female category."

“We have to do that to ensure fairness. And we have to do it with scientific approach and with the inclusion of the international federations who have done a lot of work in that area. So we have to bring in the experts — that will take a little bit of time — and the international federations so that we have full buy-in and cohesion on this specific topic,” Coventry said at a press conference shortly after becoming president.

Coventry said the rules will not have a retroactive effect, indicating an unwillingness to revisit the Khelif controversy: “We are not going to be doing anything retrospectively. We are going to be looking forward. And again, from the members that were here, it was: What are we learning from the past, and how are we going to leverage that and move that forward to the future, and how are we going to strengthen the movement as we move into the future?”

The policy change will likely be announced in early February before the Milano Cortina Winter Olympics in Italy, according to Fox News.

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Olympic Committee adopts new policy on 'trans' athletes

'Kick their a**!' Republican leadership touts key protections against men in women's sports

Olympics committee expected to reverse course on men in women's sports

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