A Message to the USA Weightlifting Community
Share:
“Our sport welcomes everyone who is inspired to lift a barbell, including transgender athletes. Our current Athlete Gender Inclusion, Competitive Equity, and Eligibility Policy reflects a very intentional approach, informed by input from the weightlifting community (which included medical experts) to balance transgender participation and competitive equity in our sport. This has not been an easy balance to strike, but our efforts reflect our sport’s core values. We will comply with the USOPC’s requirement that we update our policy to eliminate access for transgender women to the female competition category. That said, we intend to keep a meaningful place in our sport for everyone who wants to lift a barbell and will do our best to bring this commitment to life for the transgender athletes in our community.”
Matt Sicchio, USA Weightlifting CEO & President
***
The USOPC recently released new athlete-safety guidelines that all national governing bodies must follow to align with an executive order issued by the president earlier this year. Failure to follow this mandate risks USAW’s position as the national governing body for the sport of weightlifting in the United States.
Our current Athlete Gender Inclusion, Competitive Equity, and Eligibility Policy (effective Jan. 1, 2025) does not comply with the USOPC’s mandate because we provide a pathway for transgender women to compete in the female category. In response to that mandate, USA Weightlifting must update our policy to prohibit transgender women from competing in the female category. We are engaging with our community, including transgender athletes, to determine how we can best keep and protect a meaningful place in our sport for our transgender athletes while also meeting this new standard.
We’re targeting September 1 for our Board of Directors to consider and approve a new policy. Communication around the implementation of that policy will follow shortly after and include guidance for all levels of competition (local, WSO, and national). We are hopeful that the USOPC will allow for our new policy to include alternative competition solutions (e.g., an open category) for our transgender athletes, but those details are still under discussion and negotiation.
We remain firmly and fully committed to the entire weightlifting community, including our transgender athletes. Though they make up a very small portion of our membership (fewer than 20 people out of 22,000), our transgender members still belong. Their presence matters. We will continue to support all athletes in finding a place to participate, compete, and thrive in weightlifting. We hope our greater community will continue to welcome everyone who wants to lift a barbell.
