ByJERUSALEM POST STAFF

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) is heading towards a blanket ban to prevent transgender women from competing in women’s sports, international media reported on Monday.

The ban is set to come into effect in early 2026, The Times reported.

According to Sky News, Olympic chiefs are also considering banning competitors with differences of sex development (DSD), due to testosterone advantages, from participating in women’s events as well.

According to reports, this comes one week after Dr. Jane Thornton, the IOC’s medical and scientific director, presented initial findings from a science-based review into the issues associated with transgender and DSD athletes competing in women’s sports.

According to sources familiar with the presentation who spoke to The Times, Thornton said the evidence showed that transgender female athletes and female athletes with DSD had physical advantages.

Laurel Hubbard of New Zealand competes in the Women's +90kg Final during the Weightlifting on day five of the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games at Carrara Sports and Leisure Centre on April 9, 2018 on the Gold Coast, Australia.
Laurel Hubbard of New Zealand competes in the Women's +90kg Final during the Weightlifting on day five of the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games at Carrara Sports and Leisure Centre on April 9, 2018 on the Gold Coast, Australia. (credit: Scott Barbour/Getty Images)

“It was a very scientific, factual, and unemotional presentation which quite clearly laid out the evidence,” a source told The Times.

USOPC banned transgender women from women's sports earlier this year

In July, the US Olympic and Paralympic Committee (USOPC) banned transgender women from competing in women’s athletics.

The committee said at the time that it had an “obligation to comply” with US President Donald Trump’s February executive order, “Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports,” Sport Resolutions reported at the time.