Kerby Anderson

The International Olympic Committee has ruled that male athletes will not be allowed to compete against women at the Olympics. The ban begins with the 2028 summer games in Los Angeles.

The announcement came from IOC president Kirsty Coventry. She is the first woman and the first African Olympic president. She is also a former Olympic swimmer from Zimbabwe. Many of us were introduced to her at the recent winter Olympic games.

Here are a few of her key points from the video. “The policy that we have announced is based on science and it has been led by medical experts with the best interest of athletes at its heart. The scientific evidence is very clear: male chromosomes give performance advantages in sports that rely on strength, power, or endurance.”

As an Olympic athlete, she also added, “At the Olympic games, even the smallest margins can be the difference between victory and defeat. So, it’s absolutely clear that it would not be fair for biological males to compete in the female category. In addition, in some sports, it would simply not be safe.”

You would think such a policy based on observation and science wouldn’t be controversial. But I have read that a former IOC President has been arguing that the traditional chromosomal view of sex is outdated. In fact, he tries to make his case based on his view of science.

I applaud the commonsense decision by the International Olympic Committee, but I also lament that such policies have come only after hundreds of women have been cheated out of medals that were given to male competitors. The Olympic committee enacted the right policy, and I hope other sports authorities will do the same.