The Olympics has been put on notice – comply with Donald Trump or face his wrath.
If transgender women are not banned from the 2028 Los Angeles Games, they’ll be banned from entering the United States.
And the president delivered a blunt warning from the White House: “Nobody’s going to be able to do a damn thing about it.”
The International Olympic Committee cannot have been surprised.
Trump had been riffing off this intentionally inflammatory rhetoric throughout the campaign, complaining transgender women competing in women’s events are cheating and endangering rivals.
This East Room ceremony – surrounded by female athletes – turned the policy pledge into reality through an executive order.
“This is one of the big reasons that we all won,” he said, between meandering into how he could have built a bigger ballroom for the occasion.
How will the IOC cope with Trump in the build up to LA 2028?
That could be determined by their own presidential election outcome in March.
One candidate, Sebastian Coe, is already chiming with Trump, having already excluded anyone assigned male at birth from women’s categories in his role as World Athletics president.
For now this US order only directly impacts education institutions receiving federal funding.
But Trump is putting pressure on the IOC, which leaves eligibility rules to each sport to determine.
“In Los Angeles in 2028 my administration will not stand by and watch men beat and batter female athletes,” Trump said.
“We’re just not going to let it happen and it’s going to end and it’s ending right now.”
How many athletes would this policy have impacted at the Paris 2024 Olympics?
Technically, none.
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There was a trans man fighting who was female at birth. And two non-binary athletes competing in their assigned sex at birth categories. They are not in Trump’s sights.
But two female boxers were targeted, falsely classified by Trump as trans women based on disputed gender eligibility tests.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio has been told to “make clear to the International Olympic Committee… that America categorically rejects transgender lunacy”.
Trump added: “We want them to change everything to do with the Olympics and this absolutely ridiculous subject.”
Maybe this was the moment the IOC started regretting awarding 2028 to Los Angeles. Trump boasts about winning that Olympic vote during his first term having never anticipated being in power for the Games themselves.
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While protecting women’s sport is the mission, the inclusive, unifying and celebratory messaging promoted by the Olympics is being undercut.
The Department of Homeland Security was ordered “to deny any and all visa applications made by men attempting to fraudulently enter the United States while identifying themselves as women athletes”.
There has not been a widespread distortion of competition by transgender women with physical advantages but it is a growing challenge confronting sports leaders.
Widely shared clips of some American college sports events being won by trans women have fed into wider culture war with Trump siding against “woke lunacy”.
The messaging resonated with voters believing the fairness of competitions is being distorted by trans athletes by having skeletal advantages from puberty after being male at birth.
Those physical advantages can pose a safety threat – particularly in combat sports.
Activists advocating for LGBT+ rights in sport decried the targeting of another marginalised community by the Trump administration.
Athlete Ally said in a statement: “Our hearts break for the trans youth who will no longer be able to know the joy of playing sports as their full and authentic selves.”
But many across the United States are sure to endorse Trump delivering on his “common sense” agenda.
“You’ve been waiting a long time for this,” he said, before signing the “No Men in Women’s Sports” executive order into law.