Trump promises to ban transgender athletes from women's sports: How will it impact the sporting world?

A day before his swearing-in, Donald Trump, once again, echoed his sentiments over the participation of transgender athletes in women’s sports at a rally in Washington. The President reiterated his stand, of preventing transgender athletes from participating in women’s sports. He wants to keep men out by signing an order on his very first day as the next President of the US.

“We will get critical race theory and transgender insanity the hell out of our schools,” Trump said. “We will keep men out of women’s sports. It’s over."

Trump continues attack against transgender athletes

This is not the first time Trump has been vocal about transgender athletes in the country. Last month, Trump made his resolute feelings very clear by saying there are only two genders. He even vowed to end the transgender lunacy in the country with the stroke of my pen on day one.

“With the stroke of my pen on day one, we’re going to stop the transgender lunacy,” he said. “I will sign executive orders to end child sexual mutilation, get transgender out of the military and out of our elementary schools and middle schools and high schools.”

Even during his campaign, Trump aggressively ran television ads mocking Vice-President Kamala Harris for her support of transgender rights. And so it’s no surprise that when it came to sports, Trump didn’t shy away from making his intentions resoundingly clear.

Trump’s sentiments come at a time when major sports governing bodies are banning transgender athletes from participating in women’s sports.

Sporting bodies start to act against transgenders in women’s sports

England Hockey in an updated policy has done that and Britain’s Lawn Tennis Association, or the LTA, changed its rules to ban transgender women from competing in some female domestic tennis tournaments and other governing bodies are slowly following suit, but that has been mostly restricted to individual sporting bodies, not a whole nation.

Trump is the first leader to voice his stance on transgender participation in women’s sports, which proves that the ban won’t just be restricted to certain sports, but will be implemented all across the country. And the groundwork has been laid even before Trump has taken his oath.

Earlier this month, the US House of Representatives passed a bill called “Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act of 2025.”

The Act stops federal funding to those schools that allow the participation of transgender students in women’s sports. And while the bill is yet to be cleared in Congress, Trump’s takedown of transgender participation is likely to be brutal, because it isn’t Trump alone who wants to ban transgender athletes from women’s sports.

His close allies, too have been vocal about the participation of men in women’s sports. Billionaire Elon Musk was one of the strongest voices against Algerian boxer Imane Khelif during the gender row at the Paris Olympics last year. Musk ignited more fire by saying, men don’t belong in women’s sports. So clearly Trump has the support and, more importantly, the power to implement these rules, at least in the United States.

But what would be interesting to see is how the same Trump reacts during the LA Olympics, because while the Republican has the support in his own country, will he get that kind of support from sports governing bodies like the IOC, who have backed boxers like Imane Khalif and Taiwanese boxer Lin Yu Ting. They were allowed to compete in the women’s events at the Paris Olympics despite questions over their genders.

Will Trump, who wants men out of women’s sports, be able to have his way in the next Olympics, and will the IOC be forced to listen to him?