”By giving in to political demands, the US Olympic Committee has sacrificed its own athletes' needs and safety”, says the organization's CEO in a statement.
It was in February that Trump signed the decree that stops trans people from competing in women's and girls' competitions in sports in the US.
”As a federally authorized organization, we have a duty to comply with federal expectations”, says among others the committee's CEO Sarah Hirshland in a letter.
The US Olympic Committee oversees about 50 national governing bodies in the country, several of them governing the conditions for each sport at both elite and grassroots level. Something that may mean that even local regulations and conditions need to be changed so that each association does not risk being penalized for violating Trump's decree.
Some associations, including the athletics association, have already adapted to international guidelines in the area.
Trans people's participation in sports in general and women's sports in particular has been a highly debated issue for several years, both internationally and in the US. Several states in the US have, even before Trump's decree, prohibited trans people from participating in various competitive contexts.
The US, in the form of Los Angeles, is hosting the Olympic Games 2028.
Corrected: An earlier version of the text had an incorrect headline and vignette.
