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NCAA's new transgender athlete rules defer to national and international governing bodies

The NCAA has made changes to its rules for transgender athletes in an attempt to align its policies with international competition standards.

Instead of an NCAA-specific approach for college athletics, the new rules instead defer to each sport's national and international governing bodies. The NCAA’s policy is effective immediately and the governing body said Wednesday that athletes will need to document their testosterone levels four weeks before their sport's championships this season.

Like the Olympics, the updated NCAA policy calls for transgender participation for each sport to be determined by the policy for the national governing body of that sport, subject to ongoing review and recommendation by the NCAA Committee on Competitive Safeguards and Medical Aspects of Sports to the Board of Governors.