The only thing you can be sure about when the mass media reports on science-related topics is that they've gotten it wrong. :-p I'm not sure what the IOC rep actually said, tho' it might have been something to the effect of being sure to wait until the effects of the hormone spike caused by going off hormone therapy as a precursor to surgery wear off - but that'll happen before you're done recovering from the surgery anyway, in most cases. Blah! Stupid reporters, learn to write.

I read it as a reporter misreporting that the IOC wants to wait until hormonal effects that led to the need for HRT wear off, and the athlete settles into his or her long-term post-SRS steady state. The Gay Games has been using two years as a figure, counted from the start of HRT.

Now, what the IOC will do about non-op people, or about the galaxy of different surgical options and combinations thereof for FTMs, is still an open question. I'll have to wait to see the actual policy itself that results from this, but it sounds like what they're discussing makes a lot more sense for traditional MTF post-op transwomen like me (and like the two transwomen mentioned in the article) than for FTMs or other types of trans people. I hope that the final policy doesn't stay that way.