NEWYou can now listen to PK Press Club articles!
Legendary sportscaster Bob Costas this week welcomed the International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) policy change banning transgender athletes from participating in women’s sports, saying: “Common sense is not transphobic.”
Costas, the longtime voice of the Olympics, addressed the groundbreaking policy change during an appearance on CNN this week. Costas said that while some use this issue “for political purposes,” IOC policy does not fall within that framework.
Sportsman Bob Costas on the field before a game between the Atlanta Braves and the Baltimore Orioles at SunTrust Park in Atlanta, Georgia on June 22, 2018. (Brett Davis/USA TODAY Sports)
“Common sense is not transphobic. There is a reason why high school champions don’t compete with college champions. There is a reason why no trans man who was once a woman and became a man has ever competed successfully with men in the Olympics.
CLICK HERE FOR MORE SPORTS COVERAGE ON PK Press Club
“If Caitlin Clark could play in the NBA, everyone would cheer for her – that would be an incredible thing. But if the last guy on the bench of an NBA team went to the WNBA and started averaging 40 points, everyone would know it was stupid.”
The IOC on Thursday unveiled the policy limiting women’s competition to biological females. Eligibility will be determined by SRY gene screening, also called genetic testing.
“Based on scientific evidence, the IOC considers that the presence of the SRY gene is fixed throughout life and represents very specific evidence that an athlete has experienced male sexual development. Furthermore, the IOC considers that screening for the SRY gene via saliva, a cheek swab or a blood sample is minimally intrusive compared to other possible methods,” the IOC Executive Board said in a press release.
The Olympic rings at the headquarters of the International Olympic Committee (IOC). (LAURENT GILLIERON/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)
IOC ANNOUNCES NEW POLICY TO ENSURE ONLY WOMEN PARTICIPATE IN WOMEN’S COMPETITIONS
Ahead of the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, athletics, swimming and cycling adopted policies banning trans athletes who have reached male puberty from competing in women’s competitions. The new policy ensures it applies to all sports ahead of the 2028 Games in Los Angeles.
Costas said that while he believes some are “demonizing” trans athletes on this issue, the IOC policy addresses the issue of fair competition for female athletes.
“There’s a reason why there are men’s and women’s sports and why Title IX was one of the truly progressive pieces of legislation in the best sense of the word progressive during the Nixon administration. It changed everything.
IOC President Kirsty Coventry speaks to volunteers, ahead of the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Milan, Italy, Thursday, January 29, 2026. (Daniele Mascolo/Pool Photo via AP)
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE PK Press Club APP
“It makes no sense that a swimmer who was the 472nd swimmer when he was a man at Penn would win or be close to winning against women a year and a half after transitioning. If that’s what the person wants to do, that person should be treated with dignity and respect. But there has to be common sense, and common sense is not transphobic.”
