Trump says he’s ‘proud to be the president to save women’s sports’ after NCAA changes trans athlete policy

President Donald Trump celebrated the NCAA’s announcement of a new policy Thursday that prevents transgender athletes from competing in women’s sports after he signed an executive order to address the issue a day earlier.

Trump proclaimed himself “the president to save women’s sports” in a celebratory Truth Social post. He also suggested the International Olympic Committee (IOC) will be the next major sports institution to follow his order. 

“Due to my Executive Order, which I proudly signed yesterday, the NCAA has officially changed their policy of allowing men in Women’s Sports – IT IS NOW BANNED! This is a great day for women and girls across our Country,” Trump wrote.

“Men should have NEVER been allowed to compete against women in the first place, but I am proud to be the President to SAVE Women’s Sports. We expect the Olympics Committee to also use Common Sense, and implement this policy, which is very popular among the American People, and the entire World!”

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The NCAA’s previous policy, which had been in place in 2010, allowed biological males to compete in women’s sports after undergoing at least one year of testosterone suppression treatment. The new policy states, “A student-athlete assigned male at birth may not compete on a women’s team.”

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Prior to Trump signing the order Wednesday, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said part of the motivation behind Trump’s executive order would be to create a “pressure campaign” for the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and NCAA to follow and prevent transgender athletes from competing in women’s sports. 

During Trump’s ceremony at the White House to sign the executive order, he announced that Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem will prohibit any transgender athletes attempting to compete as women from entering the country for the Olympics in 2028. 

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.” 

There was controversy surrounding gender eligibility at the Paris Olympics in July and August. 

Boxers Imane Khelif of Algeria and Lin Yu-ting of Taiwan won gold medals in women’s boxing. Both athletes had previously been disqualified from international competitions for failing gender eligibility tests. However, the IOC and current President Thomas Bach voiced support for both athletes. The IOC also insisted that both athletes were biologically female. 

Before that, Laurel Hubbard, a transgender woman, competed in weightlifting for the New Zealand team, and Canadian soccer player Quinn came out as nonbinary and transgender in 2020.

With Bach preparing to leave office later this year, the IOC’s next president could help carry out Trump’s vision on the issue more cooperatively. 

Former British Olympic champion Sebastian Coe is a candidate to be the next IOC president and has suggested he will take action to prevent transgender inclusion in women’s events. 

Coe is the head of World Athletics, the governing body for international track and field competition. In 2023, the governing body tightened its regulations on transgender athletes to exclude transgender women who have gone through male puberty from competing in the female category. That regulation also lowered the maximum testosterone level for eligible female competitors. 

Coe said if he becomes IOC president, the new Olympic policy on transgender inclusion will “probably” reflect the one he has established in World Athletics. Coe has also said the controversy surrounding Khelif and Yu-ting made him feel “uncomfortable.”

The United Nations released study findings saying nearly 900 biological females have fallen short of winning medals because they lost to transgender athletes.

The study, “Violence against women and girls in sports,” said more than 600 athletes did not medal in more than 400 competitions in 29 different sports, totaling over 890 medals, according to information obtained up to March 30.

“The replacement of the female sports category with a mixed-sex category has resulted in an increasing number of female athletes losing opportunities, including medals, when competing against males,” the report said.

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