Olympics Presidential Candidates Exploring Complete Transgender Ban

Lord Sebastian Coe is one of a number of candidates running for President of the International Olympic Committee that has said he will explore a “complete ban on transgender women” competing at the Olympics if elected to the position.

Coe, who organised the 2012 London Olympics and has won four Olympic medals, spoke to Sky News about his plan to introduce “science-based policies that safeguard the female category” at the sporting event. 

“[I would] have a very clear policy that would be unambiguous,” Coe said, “[that] would be clear cut, but would be co-curated with all those stakeholders – so that it is relevant to the athletes, sport scientists, the national Olympic committees, the international federations. And they’re telling me that they want to be part of that journey.”

Coe is also the President of World Athletics, which took steps to exclude trans women from competition and tighten rules on people with differences in sex development at an elite level in March last year.

“We’ve taken the lead at World Athletics, and I think for me the principle is very clear. But if you have a vacuum around this policy position, then you end up with some of the things that we witnessed in Paris,” Coe said, in a seeming reference to Imane Khelif at this year’s Paris Olympics. 

Other candidates considering trans Olympic ban

The manifestos of other candidates reveal that the participation of trans women at the Olympics is a top issue going into the IOC presidential election. As reported by Sports Business Journal, mention of it is made in the manifestos of candidates Johan Eliasch (International Ski Foundation president), David Lappartient (International Cycling Union) and Juan Antonio Samaranch (longtime IOC member).

Eliash suggested that only athletes assigned female at birth should be allowed to participate in women’s sports, while Samaranch said that IOC policy should “maintain unambiguous distinction between men’s and women’s categories.” ICU’s Lappartient said: “We cannot ignore what female athletes are saying, but our decisions must also be grounded on solid scientific evidence.”