The United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee (USOPC) has banned male athletes from competing in women’s sports, yielding to President Donald Trump’s executive order “Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports.”

The USOPC announced the change which is included in an updated “Athlete Safety Policy” document.

“The USOPC will continue to collaborate with various stakeholders with oversight responsibilities, e.g., IOC, IPC, NGBs,” the document says, “to ensure that women have a fair and safe competition environment consistent with Executive Order 14201 and the Ted Stevens Olympic & Amateur Sports Act.”

Sarah Hirshland, CEO of USOPC, and Gene Sykes, president of USOPC, addressed the issue in a letter to the “Team USA Community.”

“As a federally chartered organization, we have an obligation to comply with federal expectations,” the letter said. “The guidance we’ve received aligns with the Ted Stevens Act, reinforcing our mandated responsibility to promote athlete safety and competitive fairness.”

Trump’s executive order, signed in February, established that U.S. policy is to protect women’s sports from male participation. The order mandates the withdrawal of funds from educational programs that “deprive women and girls of fair athletic opportunities, which results in the endangerment, humiliation, and silencing of women and girls and deprives them of privacy.”

William Bock, who once had been part of the National Collegiate Athletic Association’s (NCAA) Rules Committee, spoke to The Washington Stand about the policy change.

“During the first half of 2025, hundreds of trans-identifying men competed in women’s sports,” Bock said, “like cycling, fencing, swimming, track and field, and many others, stealing placements, recognition, safety, and privacy in locker rooms from women and girls.”

After resigning from the NCAA in protest, Bock is now representing 16 female athletes in their suit against the association. In 2024, Riley Gaines, a University of Kentucky swimmer who was forced to compete against a male athlete known as Lia Thomas, sued the NCAA for allowing men to use female locker rooms and compete in women’s sports.

“It’s hard to applaud an organization for merely following the law,” Gaines said of the policy change, “but nonetheless, this is a win.”

Bock also celebrated the policy change.

“The resolve of President Trump to protect women from men in women’s locker rooms and fairness in women’s sport has resulted in more progress in protecting women’s rights over the last six months than many thought possible,” Bock said. “The movement to protect fairness and integrity in women’s sports now has real momentum, and there is every reason to be hopeful that these key rights for women can be fully and permanently secured before the 2028 Summer Olympic Games in Los Angeles.”

Photo: Chris Harris / UCG / Universal Images Group / Newscom