The Olympics will allow trans athletes compete without having sex reassignment surgery

The rules of the Olympics have changed.
(Image credit: Alexander Hassenstein/Getty Images)

Transgender Olympic athletes are no longer required to undergo sex reassignment surgery in order to compete, the International Olympic Committee said Monday.

"To require surgical anatomical changes as a pre-condition to participation is not necessary to preserve fair competition and may be inconsistent with developing legislation and notions of human rights," the updated guidelines read.

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Julie Kliegman

Julie Kliegman is a freelance writer based in New York. Her work has appeared in BuzzFeed, Vox, Mental Floss, Paste, the Tampa Bay Times and PolitiFact. Her cats can do somersaults.