IOC Restores Women’s Category in Elite Sport — Analysis
The International Olympic Committee has adopted a new guideline reserving the women’s category for biological women. An SRY gene test will determine eligibility. EGGoe (Austria) examines this breakthrough.
What is changing
From the 2028 Los Angeles Olympic Games onward, the IOC will apply a universal standard: participation in the women’s category will be reserved for female athletes without a Y chromosome. The presence of the SRY gene — the switch that leads to the development of male gonads during embryonic development — will be checked using a cheek-swab test. This marks a break with the framework established in 2021, under which the IOC left the decision to individual sports federations. What the test measures and what it means for trans women is explained on gendersport.nl.
Why this was necessary
- Athletes who have gone through male puberty retain lifelong advantages in muscle strength, lung capacity, heart size and bone structure — testosterone suppression does not eliminate them.
- In contact sports, this creates a safety risk — not a hypothetical one, but one documented in volleyball, MMA and rugby.
- The women’s category exists precisely to make fair competition between women possible — otherwise sport would have no need for a separate category.
"It is absolutely clear that it would not be fair for biological males to compete in the women’s category." — Kirsty Coventry, IOC President
The SRY test as an objective standard
The SRY test is consistent with biology itself. No testosterone threshold that can fluctuate for years, no subjective declaration of identity, but a single genetic marker that is the same in every cell of the body. For women with a DSD in whom the SRY gene is present, this means they will no longer be able to compete in the women’s category — a painful but consistent decision.
"Fairness in competition and physical safety (especially in contact sports) are now the top priorities." — IOC
The end of an ideological transitional phase
Between 2003 and 2025, the IOC gradually moved toward unconditional inclusion — first testosterone limits, then delegation to sports federations, and in 2021 even a statement that there was no scientific evidence of a trans advantage. That position has proved untenable. Sports scientists — including Emma Hilton, Tommy Lundberg and Ross Tucker — have explained this time and again. Women’s sport itself has felt the difference. The world governing bodies World Aquatics and World Athletics had already moved ahead of the IOC.
What this means for the Netherlands
NOC*NSF will have to adopt the IOC guideline for Olympic selection. Federations that still apply "self-ID" eligibility nationally will come under pressure: their athletes will no longer be able to secure Olympic participation. The Netherlands will have to choose between the IOC line and the activist line. Fairness for women, or an ideological principle.
Conclusion
The women’s category does not exist for fun. It exists because the difference between male and female physical performance is so great that without a separate category, no woman would ever have won a world title. The IOC is returning to that reality. It was long overdue.