The International Olympic Committee has announced a significant policy shift on gender eligibility in Olympic sports, with new president Kirsty Coventry declaring the organisation will now take a leading role in protecting the female category.
Speaking at her first press conference since assuming the presidency earlier this week, Coventry revealed plans to establish a working group comprising experts and international federations to develop consensus guidelines.
The move marks a departure from the IOC's previous approach, established in 2021, which left gender eligibility decisions to individual sports federations.
Coventry, the first woman and first African to hold the position, said the decision followed overwhelming support from IOC members during a two-day workshop.
New IOC president Kirsty Coventry has vowed to protect the female category
Reuters
"We're going to actually set up a working group made up of experts and international federations," Coventry told reporters following the first executive board meeting of her presidency.
The taskforce will be established within weeks to develop a new policy framework that acknowledges differences between sports whilst maintaining consistent principles.
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"It was agreed by the members that the IOC should take a leading role in this and that we should be the ones to bring together the experts, bring together the international federations and ensure that we find consensus," Coventry said.
The approach represents a shift from the IOC's hands-off stance since 2021.
The 41-year-old former swimmer emphasised the strength of member support for the new direction.
"It was very clear from the members that we have to protect the female category, first and foremost to ensure fairness," she stated.
Coventry stressed the importance of a scientific foundation for any new guidelines. "We have to do that with a scientific approach and the inclusion of the international federations who have already done a lot of work in this area."
She acknowledged that whilst sports may have different requirements, the IOC's members had shown "overwhelming support" for protecting the female category across all Olympic disciplines.
The announcement comes after controversy at last year's Paris Olympics, where the IOC faced intense scrutiny over its handling of gender eligibility in boxing.
Algerian boxer Imane Khelif and Taiwan's Lin Yu-ting won gold medals despite having been disqualified from the previous year's World Championships for reportedly failing gender eligibility tests.
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Imane Khelif was disqualified from the World Championships after failing a gender test the year before winning gold at Paris 2024
PA
Coventry made clear that any new policy would not apply retrospectively.
"We are not going to be doing anything retrospectively. We are going to be looking forward," she said.
The IOC president added that members wanted to learn from past experiences whilst focusing on future implementation of any new guidelines.
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