(MENAFN) The International Olympic Committee (IOC) is set to prohibit transgender women from participating in female divisions across all Olympic sports, following a “scientific review” examining physical advantages associated with male puberty, a media outlet reported Monday.

The British newspaper noted that the forthcoming policy, anticipated to be announced early next year under IOC President Kirsty Coventry, stems from research showing that the physical benefits of being born male “remain even after testosterone suppression.”

The study was presented last week in Lausanne, Switzerland, by Dr. Jane Thornton, a Canadian sports medicine expert, the IOC’s medical and scientific director, and a former Olympic rower.

“It was a very scientific, factual, and unemotional presentation which quite clearly laid out the evidence,” a source familiar with the session told the media outlet, adding that the response from IOC members was “hugely positive.”

The new regulations would replace the IOC’s prior guidance, which permitted transgender athletes to compete if they maintained lower testosterone levels—a system that left final eligibility decisions to individual sports federations.

Coventry, a former Olympic swimmer from Zimbabwe who assumed office this year, stated that the committee’s goal is to “place emphasis on the protection of the female category” while keeping a “scientific approach” in collaboration with international federations.

The updated policy is also expected to cover athletes with differences of sexual development (DSD), following debates involving competitors like Algeria’s Imane Khelif and Taiwan’s Lin Yu-Ting, who won gold medals at the Paris 2024 Olympics despite previous eligibility controversies.

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