IOC Urged to Drop Reported Gender Test Plans for Female Athletes
17th March 2026
More than 80 human rights and sport advocacy groups have called on the International Olympic Committee to abandon reported plans to introduce universal genetic sex testing for female athletes and impose a blanket ban on transgender and intersex competitors.
A joint statement released on Tuesday by the Sport & Rights Alliance (SRA), ILGA World, Humans of Sport, and dozens of other groups warned that the measures that will reportedly be recommended by the IOC’s Protection of the Female Category Working Group would set back gender equity in sport.
“Multiple sources have said the group has advised the IOC to require all women and girl athletes to undergo genetic sex verification and to bar transgender and intersex athletes from competing in women’s events. The IOC has not publicly confirmed the recommendations,” the statement said.
The SRA’s executive director Andrea Florence said sex testing and a blanket ban policy would be a “catastrophic erosion of women’s rights and safety.”
War Is Peace—Freedom Is Slavery—Sex Testing Violates the Rights and Safety of Women