Trump administration pushes for uniform transgender athlete ban by IOC

President Donald Trump is ready to take his fight against transgender athletes to the International Olympic Committee Trump said Wednesday during a signing ceremony for an executive order aimed at banning transgender athletes from womens sports that his administration wants the IOC to change everything having to do with the Olympics and having to do with this absolutely ridiculous subject ahead of the 2028 Summer Games in Los AngelesThe order empowers the Secretary of States office to pressure the IOC to amend standards governing Olympic sporting events to promote fairness safety and the best interests of female athletes by ensuring that eligibility for participation in womens sporting events is determined according to sex and not gender identity or testosterone reductionThe order also calls for the secretary of state and the Department of Homeland Security to review and adjust as needed policies permitting admission to the United States of males seeking to participate in womens sports There is no evidence that male athletes have competed in womens Olympics eventsOutgoing IOC President Thomas Bach said in December that Olympic organizers were very confident they could work with the Trump administration The president initially backed Los Angeles during his first administration when the city bid for the 2024 Games that were awarded to Paris Officials with the LA28 organising committee did not immediately respond to a request for commentLA28 organising committee chairman Casey Wasserman reportedly met with Trump in Florida last month before Trumps second term began with Wasserman saying afterward both were looking forward to delivering a successful Games The IOC has largely stayed out of the discussion around transgender athletes letting the international governing bodies for each sport set the parameters for gender participationThe rules can run the gamut Entities like World Aquatics have very strict guidelines while World Triathlon rules are more liberal The IOCs stance could change considerably in the near future following Bachs retirement Among the candidates to replace Bach is former track star Sebastian Coe now the leader of World Athletics Coe has been a strong proponent of limiting participation in female sports to cisgender womenTwo years ago track and field under Coe banned transgender athletes from international competition adopting the same rules as swimming and adopted new regulations requiring some athletes to undergo hormonesuppressing treatment for six months before competing to be eligible The rhetoric around transgender athletes heated up at the Paris Olympics last summer with Trump eagerly entering the frayOn the campaign trail Trump frequently mislabeled two Olympic female boxers as men and said their ability to participate in the Paris Games was demeaning to women even though both Imane Khelif of Algeria and Li Yuting of Taiwan were assigned female at birth and identify as women Trump referenced both athletes again on WednesdayThey had two women or two people that transitioned and both of them won gold medals and they won them very convincingly Trump said But all of that ends today because with this executive order the war on womens sports is over The question going forward is what kind of leverage the United States can use to influence the IOC Given the volatile nature of the issue Trumps order could begin a groundswell among international federations for the IOC to come up with a uniform standardThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever