WHAT’S ALREADY IN PLACE FOR TRANSGENDER ATHLETE ELIGIBILITY?
While LGBTQ advocates have praised the order for protecting transgender athletes and critics have blasted the order for creating what they see as an uneven playing field in girls sports,
Biden’s executive order doesn’t appear to affect current national-level policies for transgender athletes at the college or professional levels. The NCAA has had policies in place to govern transgender athlete eligibility for at least a decade. The IOC follows a similar policy, based mostly on testosterone levels, and USA Swimming follows the same policy. Here’s a brief overview of the two policies, which have been in place since well before Biden’s order:
NCAA: a trans female athlete must complete one full year of testosterone suppression treatment before being eligible to compete on a women’s team in the NCAA. A trans male athlete with the proper medical exemption can compete on a men’s team in the NCAA while receiving testosterone treatment, but also loses their eligibility to compete on a women’s team.
IOC/USA Swimming: a trans female athlete must declare their gender identity as female and cannot change that for a period of four years. They must then show that their testosterone levels are below a certain threshold for at least one full year before being eligible to compete in women’s events. Testosterone levels must remain below that threshold for the athlete to remain eligible.
https://swimswam.com/new-president-n...thlete-access/
