WASHINGTON D.C. — Today, Independent Women commends the International Olympic Committee (IOC) for creating a new task force to investigate “the protection of the female category.” As its first female president, Kirsty Coventry, takes the helm, Independent Women urges the IOC to take decisive action to keep men out of women’s Olympic competitions. Coventry has promised to work alongside President Trump following his monumental Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports Executive Order, which Independent Women supported with a presence of staff, female athlete ambassadors, and chapter leaders standing behind the president for the signing of the executive order.
Independent Women has been at the forefront of the movement to restore fairness in women’s sports worldwide, applying sustained pressure on international sports governing bodies, including the IOC, to ensure that female athletes are not forced to compete against men.
Independent Women was identified as a key stakeholder by World Athletics, and participated in the federation’s Consultation to protect women’s elite sports — offering recommendations on determining eligibility for the women’s category in athletics. Coventry stated in a press conference that she will work with international federations like World Athletics to bring “more unity.”
The IOC has come under pressure for failing to prioritize safety and fairness for female athletes: once after the world witnessed two men fighting women in a boxing ring at the Paris Olympic Games, and again when a a 50-year-old male sprinter from Italy competed in the women’s division of the Paralympic games.
The IOC has a unique and historic opportunity now with its first female president to restore integrity to women’s sports at the highest level. Independent Women urges Coventry and IOC leadership to prioritize equal opportunity for female athletes around the world.
Payton McNabb, an ambassador for Independent Women and former high school volleyball player who now suffers permanent injury as the result of a spike by a male competing on an opposing women’s volleyball team, said, “We can not deny the physical advantage of men over women in sports. It is undisputed science. The inclusion of men in women’s sports not only puts women at a significant disadvantage, it is dangerous. When male athletes participate in women’s sport the severity of physical injury increases — my story proves it. Kirsty Coventry must keep this in mind and put safety first for Olympic athletes.”
Linnea Saltz, an Independent Women ambassador and the first NCAA athlete to complain to the NCAA about racing against June Eastwood, the first trans-identifying male athlete to compete in Dl cross country, said, “I am excited to hear that the International Olympic Committee (IOC) has elected a strong leader in Kirsty Coventry. I am hopeful that, as she works alongside President Trump, she will address the important issues surrounding intergender athletics in the lead-up to the 2028 Games. I remain optimistic that the committee will prioritize common sense and ensure that female athletes are able to compete exclusively against other biological females where it is safe and fair”.
Cynthia Monteleone, a Team USA world-champion track athlete forced to compete against a male athlete in the 2018 World Masters Athletics Championships, said, “Celebrating today the election of Kristy Coventry as the first female, first African and youngest President of the IOC! A double Olympic champion in swimming, Coventry has the opportunity to take her experience as a female athlete and stand up for the integrity of sport itself and the protection and safety of female athletes by not allowing biological males to compete in the female category in Olympic sports. I look forward to her statement in standing up for the mental and physical health of those of us female athletes that have been negatively affected by being forced to compete unfairly against male athletes in our space.“
Adriana McLamb, marketing director for Independent Women and former women’s international junior athlete, said, “We want to congratulate Kirsty Coventry on her new CEO role at the IOC. It is a great step for women as the first female to hold this role, but hopefully she stands with women and keeps women’s sports female at the international level. It’s one thing to be a woman, it’s another to stand with women.”
“Women around the globe are counting on IOC President Coventry to protect women’s Olympic sport for female athletes. We have had enough of the squishy rules that allow men to compete in women’s elite sports. The ‘men in women’s sports era’ is over,” said Victoria Coley, vice president of communications for Independent Women. “Coventry has an opportunity to set the precedence for the world and show that she knows what a ‘woman’ is, that female athletes matter, and that fair and equal opportunity between the sexes matters in athletics. Coventry will either go down in history as the first female president of the IOC that saves women’s sports or the first female president of the IOC that destroys women’s sports once and for all.”
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