The Olympics will sex test all women athletes in 2028. It’s not going to work.
Slate • • sports
Key Points:
- The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has introduced mandatory sex testing for all athletes competing in women's sports at the 2028 Los Angeles Games, effectively banning most transgender and intersex women from participation.
- The testing involves detecting the presence of the SRY gene, which the IOC claims indicates male sex development, though experts note this method oversimplifies complex biological variations and is opposed by the gene's discoverer.
- Intersex athletes, many unaware of their status until invasive testing, face significant privacy violations and exclusion, with research showing no evidence that intersex women have unfair competitive advantages.
- The policy reverses the IOC’s 2021 framework that promoted inclusion of trans and intersex women and is expected to influence lower-level sports, leading to decreased participation and increased discrimination against marginalized athletes.
- Advocates call for evidence-based, inclusive policies that respect athletes' privacy and complexity of sex and gender, warning that the new rule is driven more by political pressure than scientific fairness.
