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NEW YORK – EXCLUSIVE: The leadership of the United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee (USOPC) indicated it is investigating the use of genetic gender testing amid its new commitment to protect women’s sports from biologically male trans athletes, earning praise from President Donald Trump’s White House.
The White House issued a statement to Pakinomist Digital in response to comments by USOPC officials at a Tuesday news conference praising Trump’s “Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports” executive order and announcing that the organization is exploring the possibility of genetic gender testing for U.S. teams.
“Keeping men out of women’s sports is critical to ensuring the safety of female athletes and preserving the integrity of these elite events. As President Trump has said time and time again, this is an issue supported by 97 percent of the American public, and passing this measure at the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles will ensure fairness for all of the world’s best in White House News,” Kelly told Digital White House News.
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USOPC Chief Medical Officer Dr. Jonathan Finnoff said the SRY gene tests used by World Athletics and World Boxing are “not common” in the United States, but suggested the USOPC is currently exploring the possibility of applying sex-testing options to its own teams.
“It’s not necessarily very common to get this specific test in the United States, so our goal with that was to help identify labs and options for the athletes to be able to get that test. And based on that experience, and knowing that some other international federations will probably follow suit, and figure out how we can make this a seamless process… that’s where we are now,” Finnof said. “But we have a good process in place.”
Meanwhile, USOPC board chairman Gene Sykes called Trump’s executive order barring men from women’s sports “consistent with the international trend.”
“And fortunately, the ordinance designed to protect women’s sports in the United States is very much in line with the trend internationally,” Sykes said. “The expectation is that this is where world sport, international sport will go.”
Trump has previously said there will be a “very strong type of testing” in response to a question about mandatory genetic testing for women’s sports at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.
“I think a very strong one is coming form of test“, Trump said. “There’s going to be a very, very strong kind of testing, and if the testing doesn’t come out right, then they’re not going to be in the Olympics.”
The USOPC changed its athlete safety policy to suggest compliance with Trump’s “Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports” executive order in late July.
“The USOPC will continue to work with various stakeholders with oversight responsibilities… to ensure that women have a fair and safe competitive environment consistent with Executive Order 14201,” the policy reads.
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The new president of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), Kirsty Coventry, addressed the issue of transgender athletes competing in women’s sports at her first news conference since taking over in June, saying there is “overwhelming support” from IOC members to protect the female category.
“We understand that there will be differences depending on the sport … but it was very clear from members that we need to protect the women’s category, first and foremost, to ensure fairness,” Coventry said. “But we have to do it with a scientific approach and the involvement of the international federations, which have already done a lot of work in this area.”
The new president added that there is “unanimous” support for agreeing on how to change the policy and suggested the IOC could take inspiration from the World Athletics policy, which restricts biological males from competing in women’s sports if those males have gone through male puberty.
“It was very clear from the membership that the discussion around this needs to be done with medical and scientific research at the center, so we look at the facts and the nuances and the involvement of the international federations that have done so much of this work … to have a seat at the table and share with us because every sport is different,” she said.
A presentation at a World Athletics panel in Tokyo in September revealed that 50 to 60 athletes with male biological advantages have been finalists in the women’s category at global and continental championships since 2000.
The panel was chaired by the head of the World Athletics Health and Science Department, Dr. Stéphane Bermon, who said gender tests were necessary due to an “over-representation” of DSD athletes (differences in gender development) among finalists, per more reports.
In October last year United Nations said nearly 900 biological women have fallen short of the podium because they were beaten by trans athletes.
The findings were compiled by Reem Alsalem, UN Rapporteur on Violence Against Women and entitled “Violence against women and girls in sport.”
The report said more than 600 athletes did not medal in more than 400 competitions in 29 sports, totaling more than 890 medals, according to information obtained as of March 30.
“The replacement of the female sports category with a mixed-gender category has resulted in an increasing number of female athletes losing opportunities, including medals, when competing against men,” the report said.
