Burning Thoughts: Reo Eveleth and Julie Kliegman on the IOC's new policy of exclusion

Burn It All Down

Sports

4.5 • 740 Ratings

🗓️ 28 March 2026

⏱️ 60 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Jessica talks to Reo Eveleth and Julie Kliegman about the horrible new IOC policy that excludes trans, intersex, and any athlete does not fit perfectly into the IOC's definition of "woman."

For more on Reo Eveleth: https://reveleth.com/

For more on Julie Kliegman: https://juliekliegman.com/

To learn more about and listen to Tested, Reo's podcast: https://www.tested-podcast.com/

To learn more about and order Julie's book Mind Game: An Inside Look at the Mental Health Playbook of Elite Athletes: https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/mind-game-9781538168066/

To learn more about and pre-order Julie's next book Finding Renée Richards: The Groundbreaking Story of Tennis's Trans Pioneer: https://www.harpercollins.com/products/finding-renee-richards-julie-kliegman?variant=44544955973666

To learn more about and order Michael Water's book The Other Olympians: Fascism, Queerness, and the Making of Modern Sports: https://www.michaelwaters.com/the-other-olympians-michael-waters

To learn more about and order Katie Barnes' book Fair Play: How Sports Shape the Gender Debates: https://kebarnes.com/

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#sports #podcast #feminism #sportspodcast #olympics #ioc

Transcript

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0:00.0	You're ending careers not just in a like, oh, wow, look at them go. Like, running is fun and it's good for my mental health, like, in my body, which is true. But it's also the way they make money. Right. And now they don't have that. And, I mean, there are people for whom when they lost access to sport, Maximilla Imali's, right? A good example. She struggles to get three meals a day now because that was what she did.
0:21.4	That was her job.
0:35.6	Welcome to burn it all down, the feminist sports podcast you need.
0:38.5	On this episode of Burning Thoughts, we're going to talk about the International Olympic Committee's new, quote, policy on the
0:43.5	protection of the female women's, in parentheses, category in Olympic sport. It's bad. But to break down
0:51.5	why, I'm joined today by Rio Eveleth and Julie Cleekman. Rio is a writer,
0:56.2	reporter, producer, and artist. They spent 10 years researching and working on the podcast
1:00.6	tested, which is incredible. And if you care even a little bit about what we are going to talk
1:06.2	about on this episode, you must listen to tested. It, quote, traces the surprising 100-year history of sex
1:13.2	testing and elite sports that led to this moment. Rio follows athletes who are coming up against
1:17.9	gender barriers in sport and the consequences of those barriers on their careers and their lives.
1:23.0	They talk to historians, scientists, doctors, and other athletes to explore the question,
1:27.5	what is fair, and who decides.
1:30.1	Rio is also a co-founder of the Coyote Media Collective.
1:34.4	Julie is a writer and editor.
1:36.4	They are the author of The Mind Game,
1:38.7	an inside look at the mental health playbook of elite athletes,
1:41.3	and you can pre-order their next book finding rene richards the groundbreaking
1:46.4	story of tennis's trans pioneer right now so go right now and pre-order this book it will be released
1:52.4	in august julie has worked at a whole host of places sports illustrated new york times
1:57.2	washington post defector so many other places you can find their work.
2:06.7	If you live in New York City, you're lucky because you can go see them in conversation with Michael Waters,
	...

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