Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) announced Friday it would bar transgender athletes from all international women’s competitions.
The ban will go into effect on July 16 and the athletes who no longer qualify for the women’s competitions can enter into the men’s category, now dubbed Men/Open. It specifically applies to “female transgender athletes who have transitioned after (male) puberty.”
“The meeting of the UCI Management Committee was held following a seminar on the conditions for the participation of transgender athletes in women’s cycling events, organised by the UCI on 21 June, at which the various stakeholders – transgender and cisgender athletes, experts from the scientific, legal and human rights fields, and sporting institutions – were able to present their respective positions,” read a statement from the group.
The group added that it will institute a “research programme aimed at studying changes in the physical performance of highly-trained athletes undergoing transitional hormone treatment.”
The participation of transgender athletes in women’s events has become a contentious issue. While many governments are considering their own bans, sporting federations have been active in considering and acting on the issue.
World Athletics, the governing body for international competitions such as cross country and track and field, announced in March it would bar transgender athletes from women’s competitions.
The UCI previously allowed transgender women with reduced testosterone to take part in women’s events. However, the group decided to reexamine the issue after American Austin Killips became the first transgender rider to win a UCI women’s stage race this year.
“The UCI would like to reaffirm that cycling – as a competitive sport, leisure activity or means of transport – is open to everyone, including transgender people, whom we encourage like everyone else to take part in our sport,” UCI president David Lappartient told Reuters.
“However, it has a duty to guarantee, above all, equal opportunities for all competitors in cycling competitions,” he added.