President Trump is “ready to take his fight” against transgender athletes to the IOC ahead of the 2028 L.A. Games, according to Will Graves of the AP. Trump’s latest executive order, which is aimed at banning transgender athletes from women’s sports, “empowers” the U.S. Secretary of State’s 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 women’s sporting events is determined according to sex and not gender identity or testosterone reduction.‘” In December, outgoing IOC President Thomas Bach said that Olympic organizers were “very confident” they could work with the Trump administration. 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 participation.” Graves wrote the question going forward is “what kind of leverage” the U.S. can “use to influence the IOC” (AP, 2/5).
NO ENTRY: THE HILL’s Brooke Migdon noted a Trump administration official told reporters earlier yesterday that the president’s order “would target visas issued to professional and elite transgender athletes traveling to the U.S. to compete in women’s athletics competitions.” The order directs the Department of Homeland Security to “review the nation’s visa policies ‘to address males falsely asserting they are females when entering the United States to compete in women’s sports.‘” It charges DHS Secretary Kristi Noem with “issuing guidance” to “prevent ‘such entry to the extent permitted by law.’” Trump’s executive order also charges U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio with demanding changes within the IOC to “bar transgender athletes from single-sex sports” (THE HILL, 2/5).
FALL IN LINE: In N.Y., Zach Montague wrote change from the executive order “could compel athletic governing bodies” to “update their policies to comply” with it. In January, NCAA President Charlie Baker had “called for greater legal clarity” on the issue from regulators. In 2022, the NCAA had adopted a policy for transgender athletes “modeled off” the Olympic movement’s, which takes a “sport-by-sport approach to determine eligibility.” But in reaction to the order yesterday, Baker “released a statement affirming” that the organization would “take up the new policy and accept ‘further guidance from the administration’ on how to change tack” (N.Y. TIMES, 2/5).
