New genetic sex testing by the IOC in women’s sports? No thanks!
The IOC has announced a new eligibility requirement for Olympic competitions: In the future, all women will be required to undergo genetic testing to determine their sex. The presence of the SRY gene is to be examined in order to categorically exclude trans and some inter women from Olympic competitions. We strongly condemn this development. It does not promote fair sport for all, but rather fosters stigmatization, exclusion, and discrimination.
Neither the SRY test nor any other arbitrarily defined biological marker can determine what it means to be a woman. Even less can such a test say anything about actual differences in performance. It was already introduced at the 1992 Winter Olympics in France and was abolished again in 2000 due to its limited usefulness. Its reintroduction sets women’s sport back by almost 30 years.
The IOC’s justification is also unconvincing: A decision described as evidence-based remains incomprehensible without the disclosure of this “evidence.” A recently published and currently largest systematic review on the topic, analyzing 52 studies with over 6,000 participants, shows that after hormone therapy there are no measurable differences between cis and trans women in strength or maximal oxygen uptake (Mendes Sieckowska et al. 2026). There is also no general physical advantage among inter women, particularly because the umbrella term intersex encompasses a wide range of physical variations.
We firmly reject the new IOC regulation and call for non-discriminatory, humanrights-based access to sport for all people!