New IOC president: Task force will examine 'transgender issue'

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) said Thursday it would investigate “the transgender issue” of sports participation in the 2028 games, which are slated to take place in Los Angeles.

“As I just said, we're going to create a task force that's going to look at the transgender issue and the protection of the female category,” newly elected IOC President Kirsty Coventry said during a press briefing.

“And we, once we've made the decision collectively as the IOC, with the international federations, that decision will be made very clear, and we won't move from that decision,” she added.

Coventry was elected to serve as the IOC leader in the first pass of voting on Thursday, making history as the first woman and first African to hold the post.

She’s pledged to work alongside President Trump to address intergender athletic concerns on a broad scale. Trump has signed a series of executive orders outlawing transgender athletes from participating in women’s sports, striking gender-affirming care for service members and declaring the country only recognizes two sexes: male and female.

“I think there's a number of different challenges that we're going to face as the Olympic movement, and we're going to tackle those together. So, in terms of Donald Trump, again, it's going to take communication,” she said during the briefing.

Coventry notably oversaw a dispute over gender eligibility at last year’s Paris games with female boxers Imane Khelif and Lin Yu Ting.

Both athletes, born female, earned gold medals following their performances. They were previously disqualified from competing in the 2023 World Championships by the International Boxing Association after tests conducted found they "failed to meet the eligibility criteria for participating in the women’s competition." Notably, they did not undergo a testosterone examination.

The Zimbabwean who oversaw the IOC executive board investigation of the matter will now hold the position of president for a mandated eight years, with her tenure set to expire in 2033.

She’s a former Olympic swimmer who competed in a total of five games prior to being elected as an IOC member of the IOC Athletes' Commission in 2013, according to the Olympics website.

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