How common are trans athletes?

There is no exact measure of how many trans athletes are participating in sports today. However, multiple studies have suggested that transgender individuals are significantly less likely to participate in sports compared to their cisgender counterparts, likely due to a fear of discrimination (Goldberg, 2021).

A study examining the sexual orientations and gender identities of NCAA athletes showed that 97.8 % identified as cisgender and 1.6 % identified as transgender or nonbinary (Mullin et al., 2023). 

Additionally, it is important to note that not every transgender person chooses to undergo medical interventions, such as hormone replacement therapy. Even if they are competing on the team associated with their gender assigned at birth, haven’t come out, or haven’t undergone a medical transition, these athletes are still transgender. Sex-based participation policies don’t remove transgender athletes from sport, they only restrict the athletes’ freedom and right to participate on their affirming team.

Having transgender-inclusive policies does not mean that hundreds of transgender athletes will begin dominating the competition, either. Washington was the first state to develop transgender inclusive policies for interscholastic K-12 sports in 2008, and three transgender athletes participated in the first nine years of the policy being in place. None of those three athletes won a championship (Goldberg, 2021). Outsports compiled a list of known, out trans collegiate athletes from the past decade. Of the 47 athletes listed, three won national championships (Zeigler, 2025). At the Olympic level, transgender participation has been permitted, with medical requirements, since the 2004 Athens Olympics. It wasn’t until the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo that the first openly transgender athletes participated, 14 years later. Laurel Hubbard, one of the first transgender Olympians to compete in the women’s category, did not medal at the 2020 Olympics. 

People participate in sports for many different reasons, from maintaining their physical health, a love of competition, to develop friendships with others, and more. Transgender athletes participate for those same reasons and have been participating as their affirming gender for decades without ‘dominating’ the field; rather, they have not been winning beyond any other skilled athletes in their sports. 

Written by JD Dumbrowsky