Trans folks’ participation is one of the most prominent topics in sports today, so it’s naturally taken hold on the largest athletic stage in the world—the 2024 Paris Olympics.
Compared to previous games, the restrictions on trans athletes at the 2024 games went in a more conservative direction. In 2021, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) declared that the international governing bodies for each sport decide their specific rules for participation.
With 32 sports featured at Paris 2024, this decision has created inconsistencies across the overall competition. And anti-trans rhetoric has indeed been in the spotlight, as boxers Imane Khelif of Algeria and Lin Yu-ting of Chinese Taipei, both cisgender women, faced false accusations about their gender identity.
Previously, the guidelines allowed trans women to compete for women’s teams if they could prove their testosterone levels were below a certain threshold for 12 months before competition. Although higher-ranked officials involved in the 2024 Olympics have claimed the current rules will make the Olympics more welcoming to trans athletes, it has—in many cases—allowed specific federations to limit trans participation.
One of the biggest recent stories in Team U.S.A. news involves the swimming team and trans athlete Lia Thomas. In 2022, World Aquatics announced its new policy—only allowing trans women to compete for the women’s team if they transitioned before or during the early stages of puberty. In mid-June, just about a month before the games, Thomas lost her challenge to get the policy overturned, thereby barring her from competition.
At least 10 sports federations enacted restrictions on trans women’s participation, often with limited or no restrictions for trans men.
The World Rowing Federation enforces a nearly blanket ban on trans women and requires all athletes not assigned female at birth to compete in the men’s category, with a note that this is the case “unless the Executive Committee determines otherwise.” The World Boxing Council bans trans athletes from competing as their assigned gender outright, citing “serious health and safety concerns.”
Multiple other organizations have followed the same protocol as World Aquatics, disallowing trans women if they transitioned after puberty. Sports such as cricket, athletics, cycling, weightlifting and rugby also enforce policies banning athletes from their women’s teams if they went through puberty prior to transitioning.
As far as testosterone suppression, some organizations have also lowered their acceptable levels of testosterone for women athletes, going down from 5 nanomoles per liter to 2.5.
Earlier this year, the IOC financed a study which looked at the athletic skills and any potential differences between cisgender and transgender athletes. The study, published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine, studied 35 trans and 40 cis athletes and consisted of a number of tests to analyze strength and athletic performance. All trans athletes were on HRT for over a year and all participants were either regularly engaging in sports or training.
Some of the most significant results of the study include trans women performing worse than their cis counterparts in lower body strength, lung function, along with a weaker hand grip strength than cisgender men. They also reported similar testosterone levels to cisgender women. Trans men also had similar testosterone levels and lower hand grip strength than cisgender men.
Although testosterone level testing is often used in deciding an trans athlete’s eligibility, the study concluded testosterone is not an accurate predictor of athletic performance.
“While longitudinal transitioning studies of transgender athletes are urgently needed, these results should caution against precautionary bans and sport eligibility exclusions that are not based on sport-specific (or sport-relevant) research,” the study’s conclusion said.
With new sport-specific protocols in place, some trans athletes are being forced out of competitions they were previously allowed into. Canadian trans cricketer Danielle McGahey announced her retirement in 2023 following the rule change which bans her from competing. Laurel Hubbard, the New Zealand weightlifter who became the first trans woman to compete in the Olympics at the Tokyo games, was also not be eligible under the federation’s new rules.
The Olympics run through Aug. 11.