The NCAA announced a new policy regarding eligibility requirements for transgender athletes.
It will be up to each sport’s national governing body to determine requirements.
The new policy is effective immediately.
Each policy will be subject to ongoing review by the NCAA Committee on Competitive Safeguards and Medical Aspects of Sports to the Board of Governors.
Transgender athletes will need to document their testosterone levels four weeks before their sport selects championship participants and any other deadlines set by their sport’s governing body.
If a governing body does not have a policy, the international federation’s policy would be followed.
In the case there that there is no international federation policy, the NCAA would follow guidance from the International Olympic Committee.
The NCAA’s new policy revision comes after the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee and International Olympic Committee recently made changes to their policies.
The previous policy was based on hormone therapy requirements and applied to all sports in the NCAA.
This month, Lia Thomas, a transgender swimmer at the University of Pennsylvania, faced criticism after posting the fastest times of any female college swimmer this season.
Previously, Thomas competed on the men’s team at Penn for three years.
She now competes on the women’s team after going through more than two years of hormone replacement therapy.
This has sparked debate about what is considered fair, with Olympian Michael Phelps saying there is a need for changes.
Phelps told CNN there needs “to be a level playing field” but did not offer any specific ideas.
