We have to protect the female category - IOC's Coventry

Kirsty Coventry, nan caller president of nan International Olympic Committee, says its members person shown "overwhelming support" to protecting nan female class successful sport.

In a important displacement successful policy, she said nan IOC must "play a starring role" successful discussions connected gender eligibility.

At her first news convention since taking complete nan domiciled earlier this week, nan Zimbabwean revealed a moving group connected nan rumor made up of experts and world federations would "ensure that we find consensus".

The IOC has antecedently near gender regulations to nan governing bodies of individual sports alternatively than applying a cosmopolitan approach.

But having go nan first female to clasp nan IOC presidency, 41 year-old Coventry said its members now wanted to create a argumentation "to travel up pinch cohesion".

However, Coventry besides hinted that nary retrospective action would beryllium taken complete nan arguable boxing tourney astatine past year's Paris Olympics, erstwhile nan IOC's handling of gender rules came nether aggravated scrutiny.

Following a first gathering of her executive board, Coventry added, "We understand that there'll beryllium differences depending connected nan sport… but it was very clear from nan members that we person to protect nan female category, first and foremost to guarantee fairness.

"But we request to do that pinch a technological attack and nan inclusion of nan world federations who person already done a batch of activity successful this area."

During her predetermination campaign, erstwhile swimmer Coventry – a seven-time Olympic medalist - pledged to present a broad prohibition connected transgender women competing successful female Olympic competition.

In caller years a increasing number of sports federations person barred athletes who person undergone antheral puberty from competing successful elite female title amid concerns complete fairness and safety.

However, successful different sports, transgender women are still capable to compete successful women's events astatine nan Olympics.

The IOC was engulfed successful contention astatine nan Paris Games past summertime erstwhile Algeria's Imane Khelif won nan women's welterweight boxing golden badge - a twelvemonth aft being disqualified from nan World Championships for reportedly failing a gender eligibility test.

The IOC cleared nan 25-year-old to compete - on pinch Taiwan's Lin Yu-ting - who was besides banned by nan suspended International Boxing Association (IBA). The IOC said competitors were eligible for nan women's section if their passports said they were female.

Both fighters insist they are women, person ever competed successful nan women's division, and location is nary proposal they are transgender.

Some reports took nan IBA stating that Khelif has XY chromosomes to estimate that nan combatant mightiness person differences of intersexual improvement (DSD), for illustration runner Caster Semenya. However, nan BBC has not been capable to corroborate whether this is aliases is not nan case.

Last year, nan World Boxing Organisation (WBO) said reports it had stripped Khelif of nan Paris golden badge for failing gender eligibility tests were "obviously false".

When asked if her moving group could use immoderate retrospective action, Coventry said, "We're not going to beryllium doing thing retrospectively. We're going to beryllium looking forward. From nan members [it] was 'what are we learning from nan past, and really are we going to leverage that and move that guardant to nan future?'"

Earlier this month, World Boxing said mandatory activity testing would beryllium introduced successful July "to guarantee nan information of each participants and present a competitory level playing section for men and women." It follows World Athletics which has besides approved nan preamble of a swab test to find if an jock is biologically female.

When asked if she endorsed specified a policy, and if nan IOC could besides adopt it, Coventry said, "It's excessively early to pre-empt nan aesculapian experts.

"It was very clear from nan rank nan chat astir this has to beryllium done pinch aesculapian and technological investigation astatine nan core, truthful we are looking astatine nan facts and nan nuances and nan inclusion of nan world federations that person done truthful overmuch of this work…having a spot astatine array and sharing pinch america because each athletics is different.

"But it was beautiful overmuch unanimously felt that nan IOC should return a starring domiciled successful bringing everyone together to effort and find a wide consensus."

In February, nan president of nan International Paralympic Committee told BBC Sport that he is opposed to "blanket solutions" for transgender information policies.

Andrew Parsons was speaking aft United States president Donald Trump signed an executive bid that prevents transgender women from competing successful female categories of sports. He said he would contradict visas to transgender athletes seeking to compete successful female categories astatine nan Los Angeles Olympic Games successful 2028.

Coventry said nan IOC besides planned to group up a 2nd moving group looking astatine erstwhile Olympic big cities should beryllium named.