Kirsty Coventry vows that IOC will ensure fairness for female athletes
Retrospective action will not be taken over the controversial Olympic boxing tournament in Paris last summer but ensuring fairness for female athletes in future has the 'overwhelming support' of International Olympic Committee members, new president Kirsty Coventry has said.
The event in Paris sparked controversy after two athletes – Imane Khelif and Lin Yu-Ting – won gold medals despite having been disqualified from the previous year's World Championships for allegedly failing to meet gender eligibility criteria.
World Boxing, which has since been recognised by the IOC as the sport's international federation, has introduced mandatory sex testing and said Khelif would not be able to compete in the female category until she undergoes the test. Khelif has always insisted she was born a woman, has lived as a woman and has competed as a woman.
The IOC faced criticism for its handling of the row in Paris and for a perceived failure to lead on this issue more widely.
Now Coventry, in one of the first acts of her presidency, said there was unanimous backing from IOC members to establish a broad consensus, and announced a working group was being formed to focus on the protection of female sport.
She insisted however that nothing the group came up with would have any impact on events in Paris.
'It was very, very clear from the members that we have to protect the female category. First and foremost, we have to do that to ensure fairness,' Coventry said at a briefing on Thursday.
'There was overwhelming support from all of the members… that we should protect the female category.
'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.
'We understand that there will be differences depending on the sports, but it was fully agreed that as members and as the IOC, we should make the effort to place emphasis on the protection of the female category.
'We're not going to be doing anything retrospectively. We're going to be looking forward. From the members that were here (the sentiment) was 'what are we learning from the past, and how are we going to leverage that and move that forward to the future?''
Many sports, including athletics, cycling and swimming, have tightened their rules at the global level to bar competitors who have been through any stage of male puberty from the female category.
In March, World Athletics gave the go-ahead for swab tests to determine biological sex and eligibility for its elite female category.
Coventry added that World Athletics would be one of the global federations that would have 'a seat at the table' in the discussions.
'Every sport is slightly different, but it was pretty much unanimously felt that the IOC should take a leading role in bringing everyone together to try and find a broad consensus, so that really is what will be guiding the working group,' she added.
Coventry, who officially became IOC president on Monday, said the working group membership and terms of reference would be decided in the next few weeks but said it was too soon to set further timelines on when any recommendations might be brought forward.
United States president Donald Trump said earlier this year he would deny visas to transgender athletes seeking to compete in female categories at the Los Angeles Olympic Games in 2028.
A UK Supreme Court ruling earlier this year, which clarified the wording of the 2010 Equality Act, has already led a number of sports governing bodies to amend their transgender inclusion policies, including the Football Association and the England and Wales Cricket Board.
Coventry said members had also called for a review of when and how future Olympic Games hosting decisions would be taken, saying there was a desire from IOC members to be more heavily involved in the process.
She said the review would not have any impact on existing dialogue with countries which had expressed interest in hosting future events.
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