March 26, 2026
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
The Women’s Sports Policy Working Group
and Champion Women
welcome the news that the International Olympic Committee has restored the female sport category. Since 2019, we have advocated for:
- female-only sport categories,
- non-invasive and inexpensive cheek-swab tests to verify sex, and
- including all males in men’s categories.
We applaud the IOC’s leadership and their announcement on the Protection of the Female (Women’s) Category in Olympic Sport. It is the right decision based on science, competitive fairness, and playing safety.
Our Petition for Female-Only Sport Categories
is signed by 9234 people:
- 518 Olympians, Paralympians, National Team Members, and Deaflympians,
- 4464 Competitive Athletes,
- 1233 Coaches, and
- 342 Sport Officials.
This impressive showing confirms that those most involved in sports welcome the IOC's decision. We encourage all other sport leaders and legislators to follow the IOC’s lead and enforce boundaries around female competitive sport categories.
Thank you to the sport leaders who worked to reverse course on an IOC policy: IOC President Kristi Coventry, the IOC Medical Commission, and the IOC Executive Board.
“Welcome news today from the IOC. People who adopt different gender identities, such as transgender, gender non-conforming, or others should be afforded the same human rights as other citizens and protected from discrimination, so long as no sex-based rights are compromised. It’s what the gay, lesbian, and bisexual community fought for over decades. Today’s IOC decision recognizes that in Olympic sports, sex matters, and women’s sex-based rights must take precedence over gender-based identities.”
Martina Navratilova,
OLY, 59 Tennis Grand Slam Titles
“Playing sport is a human right. Today’s IOC announcement affirms that principle of inclusion and diversity. All athletes are to compete in their category; their weight, age, ability category, and now, their sex category. On behalf of women in sport, thank you for your leadership, IOC.”
Nancy Hogshead,
J.D., OLY, Olympic Champion, Swimming, CEO, Champion Women
“This is the right decision based on research science and fairness principles. Our gratitude goes out to the medical commission and the IOC President Kristi Coventry. It’s rewarding when Olympic athletes use their voices and take a lead on the issue.”
Donna de Varona,
OLY, Olympic Champion, Swimming, Member, IOC Entourage Commission
“The IOC just reminded the world of these three simple facts: women and men are different. Men cannot become women. For everyone to experience fair competition, women need our own category. May all other sporting bodies at all levels follow suit.”
Mariah Burton Nelson,
Author, Professional Basketball Player
“This is a special day for female athletes all over the world.”
Tracy Sundlun,
Olympic Coach and Manager, CEO, Everything Running, Inc., Founding Board Member, National Scholastic Athletics Foundation.
“Today’s IOC announcement affirms biological sex as a unique category. It was always inaccurate to include biological sex with gender identity and expression, sexual orientation, and pregnancy. These terms are not interchangeable.”
Donna Lopiano,
Ph.D., President and founder of Sports Management Resources, LLC.
The WSPWG
and Champion Women
encourage all other sport governing bodies to adopt female-only policies and enforce them in the same way as other eligibility criteria. See our WSPWG Model Policy,
available for free HERE
.
We also encourage the media to adopt factual, objective, and verifiable language describing an athlete’s sex, particularly as it relates to qualifications for the women’s category. For example, men with 5-ARD should not be described as “women with naturally high levels of testosterone.”
Consistent with today’s IOC decision to enforce eligibility for sports participation in the women’s category, the WSPWG
and Champion Women
also affirm that women and girls deserve female-only locker rooms, restrooms, healthcare, women’s shelters, rape-crisis centers, prisons, and other intimate spaces due to our privacy rights and our need for safety from male violence, including sex crimes such as exposure, voyeurism, and rape.
Again, we applaud the IOC’s decision to affirm the women’s sport category. Sport creates diversity and inclusion through categories: for lighter athletes, for athletes of all ages, for athletes with different abilities, for athletes from around the world, and for female athletes with XX chromosomes.
