IOC Relaxes Rules For Trans Athletes Without GRS

With the Rio Olympic Games taking place later this summer, there was some wonderful news coming in advance of the games that may speed up the day we see our first trans athlete participating in either a Winter or Summer Games..

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has relaxed its rules composed in 2003 that cover the participation of trans athletes in the Olympic Games.  Starting with the upcoming Summer Games and beyond, new guidelines have been issued by the IOC  that allow trans masculine athletes to be able to compete 'without restriction'.

Trans feminine athletes will not only be allowed to compete without the requirements of genital surgery, but will need to have been on a hormone regiment that reduced their testosterone below a certain level (10 nanomols per liter) for at least one year before first competition.  

Under the previous guidelines, trans feminine athletes were ineligible for the Olympics unless they had undergone genital surgery plus two years of hormone therapy.

It;s still up to the various international sporing organizational bodies to modify their policies to mirror the IOC standards, but now that the IOC has weighed in on the issue of trans athletes participation in the Olympics, we'll see which ones expeditiously do so.