The Milano-Cortina 2026 Winter Olympic Games open on Friday, taking place against a backdrop of unsettled and inconsistent eligibility rules for transgender athletes in women’s events. These Games will be held under the current, disparate system of federation-level regulations that govern transgender participation - a framework the International Olympic Committee has said it intends to replace with new, universal guidance aimed at protecting the integrity of women’s sport.
Why the debate has become prominent
The debate over transgender athletes competing in elite sport has intensified in recent years because there is no single, internationally accepted rulebook. Sporting organizations have had to juggle two competing objectives: safeguarding the fairness of the women’s category and enabling open, non-discriminatory participation for all athletes.
Advocacy groups representing transgender people argue that excluding transgender athletes from competition is discriminatory. Opponents of inclusion assert that the physiological effects of male puberty create musculo-skeletal advantages that transition processes do not fully erase.
High-profile political interventions have further heightened attention to the issue. In the United States, the national government under President Donald Trump introduced a ban on transgender athletes competing in college and professional women’s events last year - a development that also prompted changes in national Olympic committee policy.
Can transgender athletes compete at the Olympics now?
Under the rules currently in force, transgender athletes may compete at both summer and winter Olympic Games once they have been cleared by the relevant international sports federation. There is no overarching, universal eligibility rule applied by a single global authority; rather, sports federations are responsible for establishing and enforcing their own participation criteria for transgender athletes.
This decentralized approach means that athletes seeking to participate at the Olympics must satisfy the eligibility standards of their sport’s governing body. The IOC has said that, until it posts new, universal rules, federation-level criteria remain operative and make some transgender athletes eligible for Olympic competition.
Who will compete at Milano-Cortina?
Transgender athletes are among the competitors set to take part in the Milano-Cortina Games. One named example is Elis Lundholm, a Swedish mogul skier who was assigned female at birth and identifies as a man. Lundholm, 23, will compete in the women’s category at these Games.
The IOC has stated that Lundholm’s participation is in accordance with the eligibility criteria set by the International Ski Federation (FIS). The IOC has been quoted as saying: "Elis Lundholm competes in the female category, which is aligned with the sex of this athlete." The IOC has also indicated that the upcoming Games will be the last under the current, fragmented regulatory regime.
Is there a single, global policy for transgender participation?
No universal policy governs transgender participation in professional or elite sport at present. Historically, the IOC resisted issuing a single set of rules applicable to all sports and, in 2021, instructed international federations to devise their own guidelines. The IOC’s 2021 framework on Fairness, Inclusion and Non-Discrimination recommended that federations prioritize inclusion for gender non-conforming athletes in the category of their choice and advised against presuming unfair advantage.
That approach shifted in 2025 under the IOC president Kirsty Coventry. The Olympic body then reversed course and indicated it would assume the lead in formulating eligibility criteria, placing fairness of competition at the center of its considerations. The IOC has said it will publish new participation rules for transgender athletes in the first quarter of 2026.
How are international federations handling eligibility?
Despite the IOC’s move toward a unified framework, several major sports federations already have restrictive policies in place. World Rugby bars transgender athletes from competing at elite levels. World Athletics excludes transgender athletes who have experienced male puberty from taking part in women’s competition. World Aquatics permits transgender athletes who transitioned before age 12 to compete, but does not allow those who transitioned later.
Soccer’s governing body has not yet issued a promised policy update, leaving the position more ambiguous than in some other sports. Meanwhile, some national associations have enacted unilateral restrictions; the English Football Association, as an example, has banned transgender players from women’s competitions.
In 2025, boxing and athletics introduced mandatory genetic testing for athletes in female categories intended to detect the SRY gene, which sits on the Y chromosome and is associated with triggering male physiological development.
What has been the U.S. approach?
The U.S. national government enacted a broad ban on transgender athletes participating in women’s sports at schools when President Trump signed the "Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports" order in February 2025. The president also stated he would not permit transgender athletes to compete in the 2028 Los Angeles Summer Olympics. Following that policy, the United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee modified its own rules to prohibit transgender athletes from competing in women’s competitions.
Have transgender athletes competed at the Olympics before?
Yes. A small number of openly transgender athletes have previously participated in the Olympic Games. New Zealand weightlifter Laurel Hubbard became the first openly transgender athlete to compete in a gender category different from the one assigned at birth when she took part in the women’s weightlifting competition at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021.
The Milano-Cortina Games resume international competition while the broader regulatory landscape remains in flux. Federations, national bodies and the IOC itself are navigating competing legal, ethical and performance-related considerations as a new global standard is prepared. For now, eligibility for transgender athletes continues to depend on the specific rules set by each sport’s governing body, even as a unifying IOC policy is expected in the near term.