The United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee has taken its first steps to come into compliance with President Donald Trump’s executive order to bar transgender athletes from playing in female sports.
The president signed his “Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports” Executive Order No. 14201 on February 5 to change federal policy and bar men who identify as women from participating in women’s sports that are supported by tax dollars. This week, Olympic officials have quietly and without fanfare made their first moves to change their eligibility rules to come into line with Trump’s order, The New York Times reported.
The first step was to modify its “USOPC Athlete Safety Policy,” but the new language does not precisely outline how the ban on trans athletes will be implemented or enforced.
U.S. Olympic officials say in the new policy that the organization is “committed to protecting opportunities for athletes participating in sport,” and that it would work with the International Olympic Committee, the International Paralympic Committee and the numerous other sports organizations “to ensure that women have a fair and safe competition environment consistent with Executive Order 14201 and the Ted Stevens Olympic & Amateur Sports Act.”
Until now, the U.S. Olympic Committee has deferred to the governing bodies of the sports under the Olympic Games banner and had avoided delineating its own policy. But with this first step toward its own rules, that appears to be changing.
It is a mixed bag among those various organizations. Some, including Fencing, swimming, Rugby, and others, have strong restrictions, while others, such as golf, weightlifting, boxing, and cycling, have far more permissive rules. The International Olympic Committee has also had mixed results, but appears to be edging toward further restrictions.
It seems clear that the U.S. Olympics Committee will be moving forward to clarify the new rules it quietly slipped into its “athlete safety” policies.
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