The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has a new president, and she wants to protect women’s sports.

Taking office on Thursday, Kirsty Coventry emphasized the “overwhelming” and “unanimous” support from IOC members to safeguard the female category and revise the Olympics’ transgender athlete policy. “We understand that there’ll be differences depending on the sport … but it was very clear from the members that we have to protect the female category, first and foremost to ensure fairness,” she stated. Coventry stressed that these changes will be guided by a “scientific approach” and collaboration with international federations, which have already made significant strides in this area.

Advocates for safeguarding female athletics have welcomed the shift, though Coventry clarified that the IOC will not revisit past competitions. “We’re not going to be doing anything retrospectively,” she said. “We’re going to be looking forward. From the members [it] was ‘What are we learning from the past, and how are we going to leverage that and move that forward to the future?’”

This development coincides with growing debates over ensuring fairness in women’s and girls’ sports. Some athletic organizations, including the Olympics, have permitted trans-identifying athletes to compete in female categories if they have not undergone male puberty. However, a recent Brigham Young University (BYU) study challenges this approach, prompting potential policy reconsideration.

The BYU study analyzed running performance in 3,621 children aged 6 to 12 and found that boys consistently outperformed girls, even before puberty. “Male children were faster … than female children … at every grade level,” the study reported, noting that this disparity in 1600-meter runs was not due to lower female participation. It concluded that “innate physiological sex differences may be responsible,” adding to existing evidence of sexual dimorphism in childhood physical performance.

Colin Wright, a Manhattan Institute fellow, highlighted the study’s implications on X: “Activists claim male athletic advantage only begins at puberty, and therefore puberty-blocked males can compete fairly against females. That’s a lie. Blocking puberty doesn’t block all biology.” He added, “A new peer-reviewed study shows boys consistently outrun girls before puberty — starting as early as age 6 — and the gap isn’t explained by training.” These findings may push the IOC and other bodies to reassess policies to ensure fairness in women’s sports moving forward.

Doreen Denny, senior advisor at Concerned Women for America, responded to both the Olympics’ apparent change of tune, as well as the data found in BYU’s study. “Statements by newly-installed IOC President Kirsty Coventry about protecting women’s sports are a long-awaited and hopeful sign,” she told The Washington Stand. However, in order for them to hold water, “action must be swift.”

Denny asserted, “What we don’t need is a drawn-out process — resolution must be the highest priority. The road to the 2026 Winter Olympics is already underway.” Denny highlighted the BYU study, stating it “backs up others that have used similar data comparing the male-female performance gap in sport.” Additionally, it’s “further evidence against the fool’s errand embraced by those arguing for eligibility in girls’ sports based on gender feelings instead of fair play.”

According to Denny, “We shouldn’t be surprised. Nothing about human development of the sexes, which begins in the womb, has changed — immutable differences will always advantage males over females in sports.”

She stressed the need for clear, sex-based eligibility criteria, explaining how “women athletes deserve the clarity and support of a complete return to integrity in sport worldwide. There is no moral ground for contriving a pathway for trans-identifying males to participate in the women’s category of sport any longer.” Moving forward, the formula is simple: “Eligibility must be based on sex and verified. Nothing short of that will restore the purpose of elite competition and the parity of the playing field for women across nations.”

Concluding her remarks, Denny emphasized how “the modern-day obsession with identities and dangerous experimentation on kids seeking to change bodies to conform to a trans identity will not erase what God has created and nature unfolds.”