Are there any transgender athletes competing at the Paris 2024 Olympics? Have any competed at the Games before? What are the rules around participation?

The Paris 2024 Olympic Games will officially begin on Friday with the Opening Ceremony in the French capital city.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has stressed the Games are marking a historic first, with equal male and female athlete representation for the first time.

A much debated issue in recent years, however, has centred around the participation of transgender athletes in sport - particularly concerning women's events.

Sporting bodies have often spoken of the need to balance 'fairness and inclusion', but critics have been vocal in insisting transgender athletes have an advantage and should be banned from women's sport.

Mail Sport outlines the key questions around participation of transgender athletes at Paris 2024 and what the current rules in place are.

Have transgender athletes competed at the Olympics before?

Yes.

Canadian women's football player Quinn became the first openly transgender athlete to participate in the Olympics when they lined up in their opening match at the Tokyo Games.

Quinn had come out as nonbinary and transgender in 2020 and uses the pronouns they/them. They were permitted to carry on playing women’s football having been assigned female at birth, instead of using their gender identity.

Quinn made history by featuring in Canada’s 1-1 draw at the tournament and expressed optimism rules would change in the future.

'I feel proud seeing 'Quinn' up on the lineup and on my accreditation,’ Quinn wrote on Instagram at the time.

'I feel sad knowing there were Olympians before me unable to live their truth because of this world. I feel optimistic for change. Change in legislature, Changes in rules, structures, and mindsets.

'Mostly, I feel aware of the realities. Trans girls being banned from sports. Trans women facing discrimination and bias while trying to pursue their Olympic dreams. The fight isn't close to over... and I'll celebrate when we're all here.'

Quinn became the first transgender athlete to win an Olympic medal when Canada won gold in the Japanese capital. They had also won bronze at Rio 2016. 

The Tokyo Games had seen significant discussion over the presence of New Zealand weightlifter Laurel Hubbard. Hubbard had become the first openly trans woman to compete at the Olympics when the then 43-year-old featured in the women’s over-87kg event.

Hubbard had notably won a silver medal at the 2017 World Championships and a gold medal at the 2019 Pacific Games after transitioning in 2012.

The New Zealander had been permitted to compete having met the rules under the IOC’s 2015 consensus statement. These included demonstrating her total testosterone level in serum had been below 10 nanomoles per litre for at least 12 months. The IOC had acknowledged before the Games that the 2015 consensus statement had become outdated.

Hubbard would ultimately fail to make a lift in the competition, but later issued a statement thanking the IOC for their support.

‘I am not entirely unaware of the controversy which surrounds my participation at these Games,’ Hubbard said. ‘And as such I would particularly like to thank the IOC for, I think, really affirming its commitment to the principles of Olympism and establishing that sport is something for all people, it is inclusive, accessible.

‘Similarly, I would like to thank the International Weightlifting Federation. They have been extraordinarily supportive. I think that they, too, have shown that weightlifting is an activity that's open to all the people of the world.’

BMX Freestyle cyclist Chelsea Wolfe had travelled with the United States team for the Tokyo Olympics as an alternate, but ultimately did not compete. 

What are the rules now?

The IOC released a new framework on transgender athletes in November 2021 following a two-year consultation. 

Crucially the organisation handed over responsibility to individual federations to determine eligibility criteria in their sport, based upon 10 principles in the framework.

The framework said no transgender woman or DSD athlete should be assumed to have a physical advantage over female athletes without evidence to prove otherwise. 

It further stipulated athletes should be allowed to compete in the gender category of their choice as long as fairness is not compromised. International federations were urged to consider ethical, social, cultural and legal aspects when devising rules.

The IOC's approach has faced criticism, with tennis legend and gay rights activist Martina Navratilova having accused the organisation of 'passing the buck'.

Several federations initially tightened rules around the level of nanomoles per litre of testosterone trans athletes were permitted, including tennis, triathlon and rowing. A number have also introduced outright bans.

World Rugby became the first international federation to enforce a ban on trans women competing in elite women's events back in 2020. 

The organisation made the move after finding a 'at least a 20-30 per cent greater risk' of injury risk factors when a female player is tackled by someone who has gone through male puberty.

World Swimming approved a ban in 2022 on trans athletes competing in women's swimming races if they went through male puberty. 

World Athletics and the International Cycling Union followed suit in 2023.

'The World Athletics council has taken the decisive action to protect the female category in our sport,' World Athletics president Lord Coe said when announcing their policy in March 2023.

'The council has agreed to exclude male-to-female transgender athletes who have been through male puberty from female world ranking competitions from March 31 this year.

'The decision that the council made is a primarily principle-based decision and that is the overarching need to protect the female category. This is what our sport is here to do.'

Are any transgender athletes competing in Paris?

The United States will be represented by Nikki Hiltz in the women’s 1,500m at Paris 2024.

Hiltz identifies as transgender non-binary and uses the pronouns ‘they/them’ after coming out in 2021. They wrote on Instagram: 'Hi I’m Nikki and I’m transgender. That means I don’t identify with the gender I was assigned at birth. The word I use currently to describe my gender is non-binary.

'The best way I can explain my gender is as fluid. Sometimes I wake up feeling like a powerful queen and other days I wake up feeling as if I’m just a guy being a dude, and other times I identify outside of the gender binary entirely. It’s complicated and complex and something I’m still trying to navigate myself, but I’ve decided it’s time to share my gender fluidity with you all.' 

The 29-year-old qualified for the Games by setting a US trials record of 3 minutes and 55.53 second earlier this month.

'I literally can't believe it. I mean, this is bigger than me,' Hiltz told NBC Sports. 'It's the last day of Pride month. I wanted to run this one for my community, and yeah, all the LGBTQ folks. You guys brought me home that last hundred. I could just feel the love and support.'

Hiltz competed at the collegiate level at Oregon and Arkansas in the mid-2000s and garnered All-American honours in 2018.

They also won a silver medal in the 2024 World Indoor Championships in Glasgow, Scotland, and gold in the 2019 Pan American Games in Lima, Peru.

Hiltz qualification for Paris 2024 was celebrated by American football star Megan Rapinoe, who has loudly advocated for trans athletes.

Canada's Quinn is again competing at the Games, with the reigning Olympic women's football champions beginning their campaign ahead of the Opening Ceremony.

Have any athletes been banned?

The change of regulations across multiple sports has seen several athletes with Olympic ambitions be unable to compete at Paris 2024.

Lia Thomas is the most notable having challenged World Aquatics rules at the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

Thomas, 25, first rose to prominence after becoming the first transgender athlete to win an NCAA college title in 2022. World Aquatics rules were introduced three months after Thomas' victory.

The swimmer had swum for the Pennsylvanian men's team for three seasons before starting hormone replacement therapy in spring 2019.

Thomas asked CAS to overturn World Aquatics rules, stating they should be declared 'invalid and unlawful' and in breach of the Olympic charter.

CAS rejected the appeal, noting that Thomas was 'simply not entitled to engage with eligibility to compete in WA competitions' having not been a member of USA Swimming.

World Aquatics had declared the decision to be a 'major step forward in our efforts to protect women’s sport', with the the governing body having reportedly been prepared to also have the case argued on scientific merits.

Wolfe, who was eligible for the Tokyo Olympics, has been unable to qualify for Paris 2024 under cycling's stricter rules.

Similarly, British cyclist Emily Bridges had previously expressed a desire to compete at the Olympics but was blocked by British Cycling and UCI rules.

Earlier this year, Bridges vowed to take British Cycling to court over its ban on  transgender women from competing in the female category.

French sprinter Halba Diouf was also unable to qualify for the Games under World Athletics' rules. The Senegal-born athlete had undergone hormone therapy to change sex, and her gender transition was recognised in 2021.

The sprinter had been hoping to compete in the 200m at Paris 2024.

Diouf had told the news agency Reuters last year that she felt 'marginalised' and that transgender athletes were being 'hounded' due to the rules.

Anything else I should know?

Last month, the IOC published a 33-page document telling journalists not to use a list of 'harmful' words when reporting on transgender athletes at the Games.

A similar document had been produced for the Olympics in Tokyo by the organisations GLAAD, Athlete Ally and PrideHouse Tokyo. 

Leaflets with a link to the guide were distributed for media professionals ahead of Hubbard's weightlifting event.

The latest document has seen the IOC warn the media against using terms such as 'born male', 'born female', 'biologically male' and 'biologically female', which they claim is 'problematic language'.

The IOC also urges the press to avoid 'sex change', 'post-operative surgery' and 'transsexual'. They said these phrases 'can be dehumanising and inaccurate' when describing transgender sportspeople and athletes with sex variations.

The body has also provided alternatives for journalists to use in their reporting of transgender athletes during the Olympics in Paris, including girl/boy, woman/man, transgender girl/boy, transgender woman/man and transgender person.

'It is always preferable to emphasise a person's actual gender rather than potentially calling their identity into question by referring to the sex category that was registered on their original birth certificate,' the IOC document reads.

An IOC spokesperson said: 'The Olympic Games are the only event that brings the entire world together in these difficult times.

'The Olympics are about athletes from all corners of the world, from many different backgrounds and different beliefs, competing in peaceful competition. In this divided world, it is something precious we should all cherish.'