LAUSANNE – Kirsty Coventry, the new International Olympic Committee (IOC) president, is following up on her promise “to protect the female category” by setting up a working group on women’s sport.

The group was one of four panels announced to discuss the evolution of the Olympic programme, the future of the Youth Olympic Games, and the organisation’s commercial partnerships and marketing.

While the members of those three panels were named, those in the “The Protection of the Female Category” group were withheld.

“The names of the members of the working group will remain confidential for now to protect the integrity of the group and their work,” said the IOC on Sept 5 in the announcement of the group.

The group “will look at how we can best protect the female category. The group will consist of experts and IFs (international federations),” said the IOC.

Coventry, the Olympic body’s first woman president, signalled the creation of the group when she took up the role on June 23.

After the first IOC executive board meeting under her presidency, Coventry said she planned a “Fit for the Future” process and stressed that women’s sports would be one of the topics.

The IOC had previously left gender decisions to international sports federations, which are stepping up testing on athletes who have undergone male puberty or have the male SRY gene.

“It was agreed by members that the IOC should take a leading role in this and we should be the ones to bring together the experts, bring together the international federations,” she said.

“We understand that there will be differences depending on the sport.”

She said she hoped a working group would find “consensus” on a policy.

“It was very clear we need to protect the female category but we need to ensur...