EDMONTON – Former women's soccer star Megan Rapinoe and WNBA legend Sue Bird criticized the IOC for its new policy against biological males playing in women's sports, calling the restriction "hateful" and unwarranted. Rapinoe, a two-time World Cup champion and Olympic gold medalist with the US Women's National team, and Bird, a five-time gold medalist and four-time WNBA champion, argued that the IOC is creating an issue where none exists."I feel like two people who played at the very highest level, for every competition that you possibly could, don't agree with this and never felt like this was an issue at all," said Rapinoe on the April 2 edition of her and Bird's A Touch More podcast. One notable example of a biological male playing in women's soccer is former Canadian national team member Quinn, who won a gold medal during the 2020 Olympics after defeating Rapinoe and the US in the semi-finals, and was teammates with Rapinoe in the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). .The IOC has said its ban on biological males in women's sports came after it created a group in June 2025 to explore ways to protect the sports. "Male sex provides a performance advantage in all sports and events that rely on strength, power and endurance," the groups found. "To ensure fairness, and to protect safety, particularly in contact sports, eligibility should therefore be based on biological sex."Bird disagreed with the IOC's decision, though, calling the issue nonexistent."What's being presented as, like, this huge issue, 'we have to protect women,' it's not," said Bird. "What it is is fear mongering."Rapinoe echoed her co-host's claims and said the IOC's decision to institute its "hateful" ban was made based on politics, not science."It's just a total acquiescence to the Trump administration and to the really right-wing conservative politics that really is just, like, bringing down so much hate against such a small percentage of people who are trying to live their lives," Rapinoe said. .Elizabeth Eddy, an 11-year veteran of the NWSL, argued against Rapinoe's point in October 2025, calling on the NWSL to adopt a policy banning biological males from playing in the league and urging a broader conversation on the issue. "Addressing this challenge entails remembering why women’s sports categories exist in the first place: not to exclude but to create a space where female athletes can physically compete on equal footing," wrote Eddy in an X post. "Studies show measurable differences between men and women in muscle mass, bone density and cardiovascular capacity, which directly affect competitive outcomes. Further research has found male muscular advantage is only 'minimally reduced' — by about 5% over 12 months — by testosterone suppression. Fairness and inclusion are core American values.""Reasonable people can disagree about where to draw lines, but avoiding the conversation altogether by shutting out diverse views does not serve us. In fact, we owe it to current and future female athletes to solve this."Bird argues that such bans are dangerous because they could open the door to more drastic and pervasive measures in the future. "What we have always talked about and focused on is, if you open the door, if you crack the door open, it gets blown open, you're now policing women's bodies across the board," Bird said.
