IOC presidential candidates exploring ‘complete transgender ban’ for the Olympics

One of the candidates running for President of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) is considering a “complete ban on transgender women competing in women’s events at the Olympics” if he is elected.

Lord Sebastian Coe, who organised the London 2012 Olympics, has launched a manifesto that vows to introduce “science-based policies that safeguard the female category”.

Speaking to Sky News, Lord Coe said he would “have a very clear policy that would be unambiguous, would be clear cut, but would be co-curated with all those stakeholders – so that it is relevant to the athletes, sport scientists, the national Olympic committees, the international federations”.

Lord Coe, who has won four Olympic medals in middle distancing running, has led World Athletics since 2015.

It was under Lord Coe’s reigns that World Athletics took a stance last year in restricting the participation of transgender athletes in women’s sports and tightening rules on those with differences in sex development.

He said: “We’ve taken the lead at World Athletics, as you know, and I think for me the principle is very clear.”

“But if you have a vacuum around this policy position, then you end up with some of the things that we witnessed in Paris.”

This was apparently a reference to Imane Khelif, who won a women’s boxing gold medal at the Paris Olympics over the summer and was at the centre of a contentious row about her eligibility to compete despite being a cisgender woman.

Lord Coe also said that his proposed policies for the IOC would be similar to the ones introduced at World Athletics, adding that it is a policy that “many international federations have now taken, including swimming”.

“We’ve been very clear in World Athletics that transgender athletes will not be competing in the female category at elite level.”

This is despite the fact Lord Coe has defended trans participation at a local level before. In January, he insisted that trans athletes should not be “denied the mental and physical” benefits of participating in sport events in their communities.

He said that the “transgender issue is only at [an] elite level”.

Lord Coe is not the only IOC presidential candidate to have proposed policies arguing for a complete ban on transgender women competing in high-level sport, with Spanish financier Juan Antonio Samaranch – a current vice-president at the IOC – says that the “IOC has a fundamental duty to safeguard women’s sport”.

A second British candidate, Johan Eliasch, has also called for the IOC to “lead the way” in “establishing a simple and clear policy to ensure a fair and safe environment for all athletes, particularly women”.

Eliasch said: “This will not be easy, for obvious reasons, but we must remember that the integrity and even the viability of women’s sport is at stake here. What is paramount is not public opinion or prevailing trends but the integrity and safety of women’s sport.”

World Cycling boss David Lappartient, also running for IOC president, said that opinions on transgender eligibility across different sports may “vary” and said it is “a complex matter that must be dealt with rationally”.

“We cannot ignore what female athletes are saying, but our decisions must also be grounded on solid scientific evidence,” he wrote.

At least three candidates have not directly mentioned the issue in their manifestos.