LAUSANNE: The International Olympic Committee (IOC) will spearhead discussions on gender eligibility criteria in sports, its new president Kirsty Coventry said on Thursday, four years after the ruling body had urged federations to handle the issue independently.

Coventry, who officially took over the presidency from Thomas Bach this week following Monday’s ceremony in Lausanne as the first woman and first African to hold the position, said she now wanted the IOC to “protect the female category”.

She announced the formation of a working group to lead these discussions and another to review the election process for future Olympic host cities.

The IOC has long refused to apply any universal rule on transgender participation for the Games, instructing international federations in 2021 to come up with their own guidelines.

“We’re going to actually set up a working group made up of experts and international federations,” Coventry told a press conference following the first executive board meeting of her presidency.

She had also held a two-day workshop for IOC members this week to discuss key issues with them.

“It was agreed by the members that the IOC should take a leading role in this and that we should be the ones to bring together the experts, bring together the international federations and ensure that we find consensus,” Coventry said.

“We understand that there will be differences depending on the sports. We should make the effort to place emphasis on the protection of the female category and that we should ensure that this is done in consensus with all the stakeholders.”

Transgender athletes are currently eligible to compete at the Olympics.

Some international federations have rules in place but others have not yet reached that stage.

US President Donald Trump has banned transgender athletes from competing in sports in schools in the United States, which civil society groups say infringes on the rights of trans people. Trump has said he would not allow transgender athletes to compete at the 2028 Los Angeles Summer Olympics.

Coventry said IOC members also wanted to be more involved in the selection process for future Olympic host cities.

Under her predecessor, the IOC executive board presented one preferred candidate to IOC members, who then rubber-stamped that choice.

“There was overwhelming support from the IOC members for a pause to be done, and a review of the future host election process,” Coventry said.

“Members want to be engaged more in the process and secondly there was a very big discussion in and around when should the next host be awarded.”

The next Summer Olympics will be held in Los Angeles in 2028, followed by Brisbane in 2032. The IOC has reported “double-digit” interest for the 2036 Games from countries including India, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Germany, Indonesia and Turkey.

No date for a decision on those Games has been set.

The 2026 Winter Olympics will take place in Italy’s Milano-Cortina, with the French Alps hosting the 2030 edition and Salt Lake City organising the 2034 Winter Games.

Published in Dawn, June 27th, 2025