The move comes as the Trump administration has reached agreements with Universities on the same issue.
Transgender women will not be eligible to compete against women for Team USA in future Olympic games, according to the U.S. Olympic Committee. The committee cited the Trump administration’s executive orders protecting women’s sports integrity in their decision. The USOPC had so far stayed out of policy changes relating to Trump’s “Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports” executive order but changed their stance on Monday. The order was aimed at keeping transgender athletes from using locker rooms with women, and from having an unfair advantage in competition.
“As a federally chartered organization, we have an obligation to comply with federal expectations,” said USOPC CEO Sarah Hirshlan. “Our revised policy emphasizes the importance of ensuring fair and safe competition environments for women. All National Governing Bodies are required to update their applicable policies in alignment.”
USA Gymnastics said in June that it had not yet adopted the federal mandates for athlete participation and was “assessing” policies on gender eligibility for future competitions. Comments from USA Gymnastics came after an online feud between Simone Biles and Riley Gaines, in which the medal-winning Biles criticized Gaines’s weight and said she was “the same size as a man.” Biles has been openly opposed to efforts from the Trump administration to protect women’s sports.
Other sports, including USA Fencing and USA Track and Field, have updated their policies and are complying with federal mandates going forward. In the 2024 games in Paris, Team USA had one Transgender athlete competing. Under the new rules from the U.S. Olympic Committee, the athlete would no longer be eligible to compete.
The USATF (USA Track and Field) came under fire in early March for allowing a biological man to compete against teenage girls and defeat most of them at an event in New York. USA Fencing has also come under heavy scrutiny, most recently for removing the word “exclusively” in April from their initial policy that stated competition was “open exclusively to athletes of the female sex.” As of the most recent change, they will also comply with the Trump administration.
President Trump has not backed down on his campaign promise of fighting against biological men competing in women’s sports.. Trump has signed multiple executive orders and gone as far as to withhold federal funds from major universities and schools that have not created new policies over athlete gender eligibility.
Team USA Swimming will also change eligibility rules starting on August 1st. Swimming was among the first sports to make national headlines after Lia Thomas, a biological man, won several medals against University of Pennsylvania women, including Riley Gaines. Some of the women that lost to Thomas filed suit and accused the university of attempting to silence their criticisms. President Trump has hosted all four women at the White House for signings of his executive orders on the issue.
