Australian Olympic Committee says transgender rulings up to individual sports

Australian Olympic Committee President, Ian Chesterman has reiterated the International Olympic Committee's stance that individual sports are responsible for setting their own policies regarding trans and gender-diverse athletes.

This announcement on the future of transgender women's participation in elite sports follows the recent edict by FINA - swimming's world governing body - to effectively ban transgender swimmers from elite women's competitions,

Swimming is the first Olympic sport to adopt such an edict with other sporting organisations now reviewing and releasing their policies regarding trans and gender-diverse athletes.

International Rugby League has excluded transgender athletes from sanctioned international matches, including this year's Rugby League Women's World Cup in England.

FIFA, World Athletics and the World Netball Federation are all reviewing their respective policies.

Cycling’s governing body Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) is also setting stricter rules for transgender cyclists. Transgender cyclists face tougher eligibility rules after the sport’s governing body doubled the period of time before a rider transitioning from male to female can compete.

The Australian Olympic Committee will follow the IOC’s lead. Last year the global Olympic body revised its guidelines on inclusion, with a new framework advising that athletes should not be excluded from competition on the grounds of "perceived" unfair advantage, but has ultimately left it up to sports federations to decide the rules.

Chesterman notes "the thing we constantly need to focus on is the fact that sport needs to be inclusive.

"We need to create opportunities for every young Australian and, particularly, if you come from a marginalised group. We need to be encouraging you to be using sport as part of your development and your growth.

"There does come a point in time when we move through being involved in sport to at a point in elite competition where there is a need to have a fair competition, and each sport will decide how they achieve that balance.

"The IOC is really the body [that is] taking the lead on this, rather than a national Olympic Committee, and they have set out a framework which says respect must be part of it, inclusion must be part of it, but fairness must be part of it.

"So you need to balance all those things as we move through the pathway of sport, from someone who's just starting out to someone who's at an Olympic Games or Paralympic Games [level]."

AOC Chief Executive Matt Carroll stressed the Australian body's "overarching" policy would be to follow the IOC's framework and said it couldn't be a "one-policy-fits-all" situation due to the differences between sports.

Both Chesterman and Carroll are confident Australia's Olympic movement will remain a welcoming and inclusive place for transgender women, and stress the importance of keeping the current conversation respectful.

Image: Australian Olympic Committee President Ian Chesterman courtesy Association of National Olympic Committees (ANOC)