EXCLUSIVE: More than two dozen Senate and House Republicans are demanding the International Olympic Committee (IOC) align its policies with President Donald Trump’s executive order to safeguard the opportunities of female athletes on the Olympic stage, Fox News Digital has learned.
Senate Foreign Relations Chairman Jim Risch, R-Idaho, and Rep. Burgess Owens, R-Utah, along with more than two dozen Republican lawmakers, penned a letter, exclusively obtained by Fox News Digital, to IOC President Thomas Bach Tuesday.
Their letter comes just a week before the committee is scheduled to meet to elect its next president and discuss the upcoming 2028 Summer Olympic Games, which are set to take place in Los Angeles.
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International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Thomas Bach prior to the opening ceremony of the 2024 Games in Paris. (Wang Lili/Pool/Getty Images)
“The United States looks forward to hosting the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles and to welcoming the accomplished athletes who have worked and sacrificed to reach the pinnacle of their respective sports,” the lawmakers wrote. “As the International Olympic Committee (IOC) prepares to elect new leadership, we write to express the critical need for increased protection of the rights of female athletes to fair, safe competition.”
“In the United States, we honor our female Olympians,” the lawmakers continued. “These athletes, and so many others, have inspired generations of young women around the world to compete and excel. Their legacy underscores the vital importance of fairness in women’s sports at every level of competition. Future Olympians are counting on the IOC to protect the opportunities of women and girls to contribute to this proud tradition.”
“To do so, the IOC must base eligibility for women’s athletic competitions on biological sex,” they wrote. “Allowing biological males to compete in women’s categories undermines competitive opportunities, safety, and respect for female athletes.”
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President Donald Trump, joined by women athletes, signs the “No Men in Women’s Sports” executive order in the East Room at the White House on Feb. 5, 2025. (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)
In February, Trump issued an executive order titled “Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports,” and affirmed the position that the U.S. “must preserve fairness, safety, and equal opportunity for female athletes.”
“In preparation for the 2028 Summer Olympics, commitment from the IOC to protect women’s sports is paramount,” the lawmakers wrote. “As members of Congress, we stand united with Secretary of State Marco Rubio and President Trump in calling on the IOC to amend its standards and safeguard the opportunities of female athletes on the Olympic stage.”
The lawmakers urged the IOC to “reaffirm” its commitment to “upholding the integrity of women’s Olympic competitions and ensure that only biological women and girls are allowed to compete in female sports categories.”
“The Olympic Games should be a model for integrity in sports, and the next IOC president must firmly defend the rights of dedicated female athletes,” they wrote. “We look forward to your leadership on this critical issue and demand that the next IOC president preserve the fundamental principles of fair competition.”
GOP Sens. Mike Crapo, Jim Banks, Marsha Blackburn, Steve Daines, Lindsey Graham, Josh Hawley, Jim Justice, James Lankford, Tim Sheehy and Tommy Tuberville also signed onto the letter.
GOP Reps. Lauren Boebert, Vern Buchanan, Tim Burchett, Kat Cammack, Dan Crenshaw, Brad Finstad, Craig Goldman, Mark Green, Ashley Hinson, Mike Kennedy, Nick LaLota, Blake Moore, Riley Moore, Austin Pfluger, John Rose and Claudia Tenney also signed onto the letter.
The flag of the International Olympic Committee is raised during the opening ceremony of the 2024 Paris Games. (Christophe Petit Tesson/PA Images via Getty Images)
In 2021, the IOC released a revised policy recommendation in which individual sports bodies were asked to apply certain parameters with a particular focus on “fostering gender equality and inclusion” when establishing policies.
For the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, the IOC rolled out its “Framework on Fairness, Inclusion and Non-Discrimination on the Basis of Gender Identity and Sex Variations” policy. The framework included principles such as prevention of harm, nondiscrimination, fairness, no presumption of advantage, evidence-based approach, primacy of health and bodily autonomy, stakeholder-centered approach, right to privacy and periodic reviews.
It replaced a 2015 policy that required athletes transitioning from male to female to declare their gender identity as female, which could not be changed for a minimum of four years, and show testosterone levels below 10 nmol/L for “at least 12 months prior to her first competition.”
The Olympic Rings are displayed at the entrance of IOC headquarters in Lausanne, Switzerland, March 24, 2020. (Jean-Christophe Bott/Keystone via AP)
The previous policy replaced the IOC’s first policy on transgender athlete participation established ahead of the 2004 Games in Athens, which required athletes to undergo surgery in order to compete in events in line with their gender identity.
The IOC did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
Meanwhile, Trump vowed that his executive order banning transgender athletes from competing in girls’ and women’s sports would also apply to the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.
In February, during the signing ceremony, the president announced that Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem would prohibit any transgender athletes attempting to compete as women from entering the country for the Olympics in 2028.
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Trump said he will instruct Noem “to deny any and all visa applications made by men attempting to fraudulently enter the United States while identifying themselves as women athletes try and get into the Games.”