The first participation of a transgender woman in the Olympic Games.
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(CNN) -
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has announced a new framework on transgender athletes, stating that no athlete should be excluded from competition on the grounds that they have an advantage because of their gender.
The new guidelines are the result of a two-year consultation process with more than 250 athletes and stakeholders.
Released Tuesday, the framework is not legally binding and will place the responsibility of each sporting federation to determine whether an athlete has a disproportionate advantage.
The 10-point document will come into effect after Beijing 2022, but not all sports are expected to be ready to find a solution for their athletes before Paris 2024.
"What we offer to all international federations is our experience and a dialogue, rather than jumping to a conclusion," said Kaveh Mehrabi, director of the IOC athletes department.
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The historic participation of Laurel Hubbard, the first transgender woman in the Olympic Games
"This is a process that we have to go through with each federation on a case-by-case basis and see what is needed."
This new framework replaces the previous IOC guidelines, published in 2015.
The changes that the new norm implies for transgender athletes
The previous policy allowed transgender athletes to compete as long as their testosterone levels were below a certain limit for at least 12 months prior to their first competition.
In the announcement, the IOC said the new framework will move away from this.
"You don't need to use testosterone (to decide who can compete) at all. But this is a guideline, not an absolute rule," explained IOC Medical Director Richard Budgett.
There is a debate in the scientific community as to whether androgen hormones such as testosterone are useful markers of athletic advantage.
Countdown to Beijing 2022 3:11
The new guidelines also apply to athletes with differences in sexual development (DSD), such as South African 800-meter runner Caster Semenya, whose testosterone levels have been recorded as too high to compete as a woman in some events.
The announcement comes after the 2020 Summer Games, which have been rated the most inclusive to date, as Outsports reported in July that there would be at least 180 LGBTQ + Olympians in Tokyo and at least four athletes who have come out. from the closet and are trans or non-binary.
Soccer player Quinn was the first non-binary, transgender athlete to compete in the Games and the first to win a medal when the Canadian women's team won gold in Tokyo.
New Zealand weightlifter Laurel Hubbard was the first transgender woman to compete in the Olympics, where she competed in the women's super heavyweight category +87 kg, but was unable to register a lift in her test.
The IOC also said that the sex tests and "invasive physical exams" used to verify an athlete's gender were "disrespectful" and "potentially harmful."
"We really want to make sure that athletes are not pressured or coerced into making a harmful decision about their bodies," said Magali Martowicz, IOC human rights officer.
The framework stresses that athletes should be part of the decision-making process and says that these guidelines will be subject to periodic review to reflect "any relevant ethical, human rights, legal, scientific and medical advances in this area."
International Olympic Committee Transgender Rights