USOPC officials bar transgender women from competing in Olympic women's sports

https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/other/usopc-officials-bar-transgender-women-from-competing-in-olympic-women-s-sports/ar-AA1J6bq2?ocid=hpmsn&cvid=3119f912fcca4968dbd88067a64f8f96&ei=69

LA Times (22 July 2025)

The U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee has effectively barred transgender women from competing in women's sports, telling the federations overseeing swimming, athletics and other sports it has an "obligation to comply" with an executive order issued by President Donald Trump.

The change, announced Monday with a quiet change on the USOPC's website and confirmed in a letter sent to national sport governing bodies, follows a similar step taken by the NCAA earlier this year.

The USOPC change is noted obliquely as a detail under "USOPC Athlete Safety Policy" and reference's Trump's executive order, "Keeping Men Out of Women's Sports," signed in February. That order, among other things, threatens to "rescind all funds" from organizations that allow transgender athlete participation in women's sports.

U.S Olympic officials told the national governing bodies they will need to follow suit, adding that "the USOPC has engaged in a series of respectful and constructive conversations with federal officials" since Trump signed the order.

"As a federally chartered organization, we have an obligation to comply with federal expectations," USOPC CEO Sarah Hirshland and President Gene Sykes wrote in a letter. "Our revised policy emphasizes the importance of ensuring fair and safe competition environments for women. All National Governing Bodies are required to update their applicable policies in alignment."

This implies another change: that to qualify as a national Olympic governing body, a spine is no longer required.

Apparently, they have also abandoned their anti-discrimination policy in favor of federal funding. All hail, the Almighty Dollar.