The Tokyo Olympics shattered records for trans athletes. Just to name a couple, Canadian soccer midfielder Quinn became the first known trans and non-binary athlete to win gold as part of the Canadian Women’s football team, and New Zealand weightlifter Laurel Hubbard was the first openly transgender woman to compete in an individual event at the Olympic Games.

The current policy, drafted in 2015, says that trans women are allowed to compete in women’s sports if they’ve been on testosterone-suppressing medication for 12 months. The International Olympic Committee (“IOC”) has admitted that their current guidelines for transgender athletes are not fit for purpose and has acknowledged that there is a need for new guidelines to be published.

The IOC initially announced their intention to publish new guidance which was due to be published in 2019, however this has been delayed significantly. After the Tokyo Olympic Games, the International Olympic Committee was continuing to review its guidelines for allowing trans athletes to compete. and indicated the updated guidelines would be published this year.

However the IOC’s new transgender guidelines for sports have been delayed again because of very conflicting opinions between those devising the new rules and these are now unlikely to be published until after the Beijing Winter Olympics in early 2022.