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The United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee changed its eligibility rules on Monday to comply with President Trump’s executive order on the issue, taking the decision away from national governing bodies for each sport.
July 22, 2025Updated 4:01 p.m. ET
The United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee quietly changed its eligibility rules on Monday to bar transgender women from competing in Olympic women’s sports, and now will comply with President Trump’s executive order on the issue, according to a post on the organization’s website.
The new policy, expressed in a short, vaguely worded paragraph, is tucked under the category of “USOPC Athlete Safety Policy” on the site, and does not include details of how the ban will work. Nor does the new policy include the word “transgender” or the title of Mr. Trump’s executive order, “Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports,” referring to it instead as “Executive Order 14201.”
Mr. Trump signed the executive order on Feb. 5.
The committee’s new policy means that the national governing bodies of sports federations in the United States — which oversee sporting events for all ages, from youth to masters’ competitions — now must follow the U.S.O.P.C.’s lead, according to several chief executives of sports within the Olympic movement.
The U.S.O.P.C. acknowledged on Tuesday that its policy had changed. In an emailed statement, the committee said it had held “a series of respectful and constructive conversations with federal officials” since the executive order was signed. “As a federally chartered organization, we have an obligation to comply with federal expectations,” the statement said, adding that the committee would work with the national governing bodies to implement the new policy.
U.S.A. Fencing posted a new policy for transgender athletes on Friday that will take effect on Aug. 1. Those new rules still allow trans women to compete, but only in the men’s category. The policy says that nonbinary athletes, transgender men and intersex athletes will also be limited to competing in the men’s category.
The Olympic committee said in its new policy that it was “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 national governing bodies of every Olympic sport “to ensure that women have a fair and safe competition environment consistent with Executive Order 14201 and the Ted Stevens Olympic & Amateur Sports Act.”
