The International Olympic Committee is discontinuing its Gender Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Commission as part of a broader overhaul of its advisory structure under president Kirsty Coventry. The IOC said it will replace 12 permanent advisory bodies with smaller working groups formed to address defined subjects and assignments.
The changes also end the Advisory Committee on Human Rights and commissions focused on sustainability, technology, education and commercial partnerships. The IOC said the restructuring followed more than a year of consultation and review. It described the new arrangement as a way to support more focused work on strategic priorities and policy development.
The Associated Press reported that the overhaul is intended to streamline operations and reduce costs, and that 19 committees will remain. The outgoing commissions generally had 10 to 30 members and met annually in Lausanne, Switzerland. The IOC said key institutional bodies, including its Athletes’ Commission, Ethics Commission and Audit Committee, will continue.
The restructuring follows a pause in the affected commissions’ activities that began in February. Under the replacement system, the IOC plans to convene experts in working groups with specific remits rather than rely on the previous standing panels.
The decision comes after the IOC adopted new rules for eligibility in women’s Olympic events. Announced March 26, the rules are scheduled to apply beginning with the 2028 Los Angeles Games. They require a one-time screening for the SRY gene, which is typically associated with male sex development. The rules exclude transgender women from women’s Olympic events and also affect some athletes with differences in sex development, subject to limited exceptions. They are not retroactive and do not cover recreational sports.
Coventry has defended the eligibility policy on fairness grounds, while also saying athletes should be treated with dignity and have access to counseling and medical guidance. The IOC used a smaller expert group to review eligibility. The AP reported that the group’s membership was not made public and that its work proceeded separately from the commission now being discontinued.
The policy has drawn opposing responses. Reem Alsalem, the U.N. special rapporteur on violence against women and girls, welcomed it, saying it protects fairness and safety for female athletes. Human Rights Watch criticized mandatory genetic screening, arguing that it threatens privacy and could expose women with variations in sex characteristics to discrimination.
The eligibility rules also followed a February 2025 executive order by President Donald Trump directing the secretary of state to urge the IOC to base women’s sports eligibility on sex rather than gender identity or testosterone reduction. The IOC’s commission restructuring and its competition rules are distinct actions, although both have featured in debate over the organization’s approach to sex and gender in sport.
