US President Donald Trump recently signed an executive order entitled "Keeping Men out of Women's Sport". According to LGBTQ+ activists such as Chris Mosier, the argument that women's sport should be protected is just a pretext for establishing further bans in the future: for example, restricting access to healthcare and rewriting school curricula with transgender themes. One thing is already clear: it is not only in the USA that the US president is fueling further division in society - you can find out what the sports industry thinks about this here.
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Back in March 2023, the World Athletics Association excluded female athletes who had gone through "male puberty" from world ranking competitions. A certain testosterone level is also stipulated for women who have DSD (Differences of Sex Development). A prominent example of this is Caster Semenya, who was born intersex and classified as a woman. The track and field athlete is no longer allowed to compete in women's competitions - this ban was confirmed in 2020 by two courts before which the athlete had filed a lawsuit. However, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) came to a different decision: The International Court of Arbitration for Sport and the Swiss Federal Court had violated Semenya's rights. The requirement to take testosterone-lowering medication in order to compete in the women's event was a serious interference. The court also found that there were far too few studies confirming a physical advantage for women with higher testosterone levels on the middle distance.
This is the problem with all debates - while various world federations such as the World Swimming Federation have introduced regulations, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) is hesitant to act. Trump therefore wants to go one step further and put pressure on the IOC to tighten the rules for trans athletes. He also quickly changed the participation rules for the 2028 Games in Los Angeles: according to him, "men" who "fraudulently pose as female athletes" will not receive a visa.
ISPO.com portrayed transgender role model Anneline Knauf, known as "Freeride Anne", a year ago. Also in the sportingWOMEN podcast, Anneline Knauf talks to Marie-Therese Riml, Bine Herzog and Chris Beaufils about her rousing story, the MTB community and transgender in professional sports. Symbolically, she stands for many athletes who are looking for guidance in the current discourse between sport and identity.
Freeride Anne: From downhill influencer to transgender role model
The US president's ban affects all opportunities for transgender women to play sports among their peers - from schools to colleges and universities. Schools that allow trans people into changing rooms that do not correspond to the gender "assigned by birth" must also fear sanctions. Where should transgender women be allowed to practice their sport in the future? That remains an open question.
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