US Olympic and Paralympic officials bar transgender women from competing in Olympic women’s sports

COLORADO SPRINGS Colo AP The U S Olympic and Paralympic Committee has effectively barred transgender women from competing in women s sports telling the federations overseeing swimming athletics and other sports it has an obligation to comply with an executive order issued by President Donald Trump The new strategy stated Monday with a quiet change on the USOPC s website and proven in a letter sent to national sport governing bodies follows a similar step taken by the NCAA earlier this year The USOPC change is noted obliquely as a detail under USOPC Athlete Safety Strategy and references Trump s executive order Keeping Men Out of Women s Sports signed in February That order among other things threatens to rescind all funds from organizations that allow transgender athlete participation in women s sports U S Olympic bureaucrats stated the national governing bodies they will need to follow suit adding that the USOPC has engaged in a series of respectful and constructive conversations with federal functionaries since Trump signed the order As a federally chartered organization we have an obligation to comply with federal expectations USOPC CEO Sarah Hirshland and President Gene Sykes wrote in a letter Our revised guidelines emphasizes the importance of ensuring fair and safe competition environments for women All National Governing Bodies are required to update their applicable policies in alignment The National Women s Law Center put out a comment condemning the move By giving into the political demands the USOPC is sacrificing the necessities and safety of its own athletes stated that organization s president and CEO Fatima Goss Graves The USOPC oversees around national governing bodies the majority of which play a role in everything from the grassroots to elite levels of their sports That raises the possibility that rules might need to be changed at local sports clubs to retain their memberships in the NGBs Selected of those organizations for instance USA Track and Field have long followed guidelines set by their own world federation World Athletics is considering changes to its policies that would mostly fall in line with Trump s order A USA Swimming spokesman declared the federation had been made aware of the USOPC s change and was consulting with the committee to figure out what changes it requirements to make USA Fencing changed its procedures effective Aug to allow only athletes who are of the female sex in women s competition and opening men s events to all athletes not eligible for the women s category including transgender women transgender men non-binary and intersex athletes and cisgender male athletes The nationwide battle over transgender girls on girls and women s sports teams has played out at both the state and federal levels as Republicans portray the issue as a fight for athletic fairness More than two dozen states have enacted laws barring transgender women and girls from participating in certain sports competitions A few policies have been blocked in court by those who say the policies are discriminatory cruel and unnecessarily target a tiny niche of athletes The NCAA changed its participation protocol for transgender athletes to limit competition in women s sports to athletes assigned female at birth That change came a day after Trump signed the executive order intended to ban transgender athletes from girls and women s sports Female eligibility is a key issue for the International Olympic Committee under its new president Kirsty Coventry who has signaled an effort to protect the female category The IOC has allowed individual sports federations to set their own rules at the Olympics and various have already taken procedures on the topic Stricter rules on transgender athletes barring from women s events anyone who went through male puberty have been passed by swimming cycling and track and field Soccer is reviewing its eligibility rules for women and could set limits on testosterone Trump has disclosed he wants the IOC to change everything having to do with this absolutely ridiculous subject Los Angeles will host the Summer Games in AP Sports https apnews com sports