OAN Staff Blake Wolf
9:38 AM – Wednesday, July 23, 2025
The U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee (USOPC) is barring transgender athletes from competing in women’s sports, in line with an executive order issued by President Donald Trump.
The policy change was introduced on Monday, as the USOPC updated its “Athlete Safety Policy,” while also sending letters to national sport governing bodies to inform them of the change.
“The USOPC is committed to protecting opportunities for athletes participating in sport. The USOPC will continue to collaborate with various stakeholders with oversight responsibilities, e.g., IOC, IPC, NGBs, to ensure that women have a fair and safe competition environment consistent with Executive Order 14201 and the Ted Stevens Olympic & Amateur Sports Act,” the updated policy read.
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President Trump signed the “Keeping Men out of Women’s Sports” executive order in February.
USOPC president Gene Sykes and CEO Sarah Hirshland revealed that the policy shift followed “a series of respectful and constructive conversations with federal officials.”
“As a federally chartered organization, we have an obligation to comply with federal expectations. The guidance we’ve received aligns with the Ted Stevens Act, reinforcing our mandated responsibility to promote athlete safety and competitive fairness,” the USOPC letter read.
“In our world of elite sport, these elements of fairness demand that we reconcile athlete inclusion and athlete opportunity. The only way to do that for all genders, and specifically for those who are transgender, is to rely on real data and science-based evidence rather than ideology,” USOPC’s website added.
It is currently unclear as to how the policy will be enforced, although the committee stated that it plans to work with national governing bodies to implement the new policy.
The USOPC oversees approximately 50 national governing bodies (NGB), potentially requiring organizations to adjust their policies to remain compliant and retain their membership.
Other major sports organizations, such as the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and USA Fencing, have changed their policies to align with President Trump’s executive order.
USA Fencing’s policy still allows men identifying as transgender women to compete, however, only in the men’s category.
“I’m not going to try to oppose the USOPC because I understand that they’ve been put in an impossible situation by the administration,” stated USA Fencing chief executive Phil Andrews. “We essentially have no choice but to change the rules because once the USOPC says, ‘This is now the policy of all of our NBGs,’ we all have to follow it.”
The Olympic community now looks towards the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to potentially change its eligibility rules for transgender athletes, as new IOC president Kirsty Coventry has vowed to protect women in sports.
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